Immigrant rights groups in Minnesota are applauding after the Trump administration without explanation dropped its push for a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Isabela Alesna with the Asian American Organizing Project says, “At a time where children are being taken away from their families and put in prisons, and a time where people are being taken away from their families and deported even here in Minnesota, the citizenship question was just another attempt to intimidate communities of color.”
It’s not clear what prompted the shift. President Trump said last week after an unfavorable U-S Supreme Court ruling that he was asking lawyers to delay the census, “no matter how long,” to pursue the matter in court. Supporters of the census question contend non-citizens should not factor into how many U-S House members a state is allocated, or how much federal funding a state receives.