Congressional Hispanic Caucus Statement on the Trump Administration’s Efforts to Undermine the 2020 Census Count

SAN ANTONIO, TX — Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) released the following statement on the Census Bureau stopping field data collection early.

"The Trump administration is sabotaging the 2020 Census. By stopping the collection of data next month, it's clear the Administration has no intention of fulfilling its constitutional obligation of a complete and accurate count of the U.S. population.

"Earlier this spring, due the coronavirus crisis, the Census Bureau asked Congress to delay the delivery of apportionment data to the President and redistricting data to the states by a combined 120 days. The House has already approved these extensions in the Heroes Act, and these provisions must be included in the next coronavirus relief package. After directives from the White House, the Census Bureau is now trying to reverse course to appease political pressure for a rushed timeline and an incomplete count. This malfeasance is unacceptable.

"The Supreme Court denied President Trump's unlawful attempt to add a citizenship question to the Census. The Administration's recent policy memorandum on excluding undocumented Americans is an attempt to reverse engineer the same corrupt outcome. This partisan scheme is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution's mandate to count every single person and it will not be tolerated. Let's be clear: the Trump administration is doing everything it can to decrease representation and reduce resources for Latinos and immigrants over the next decade.

"The American people have the ability to take action and ensure we have an accurate count by filling out their household's Census — go to 2020census.gov. It takes less than five minutes and will not only direct funding and representation to your community, but this simple action will help protect our democracy."

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Territories.