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Census question asking citizenship? That could mean undercounting Valley's population
Advocacy groups are warning that adding a question about citizenship on the 2020 Census could lead to lower participation in the San Joaquin Valley, potentially impacting funding for services such as health care and early childhood education.
In a statement released Monday night, Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that, per a December request from the Justice Department, “a question on citizenship status will be reinstated to the 2020 decennial census questionnaire to help enforce the Voting Rights Act.”
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has already filed a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from including the question. He said the move “threatens to derail the integrity of the entire process ... Including a citizenship question on the 2020 census is not just a bad idea — it is illegal.”
In a region with a large immigrant population, advocates say adding the citizenship question will discourage undocumented people from responding to the census survey, ultimately undermining the accuracy of data.
"Because the question would decrease the response rate, it actually will make the information we have worse," said Ed Kissam, a co-trustee of the Werner-Kohnstamm Family Fund and expert in census undercount research and immigrant and farmworker communities.
The California Public Policy Institute estimates about 58,000 immigrants in Fresno County are undocumented, according to 2013 numbers. The tally was 36,500 for Tulare County, 10,500 for Kings and 12,500 for Madera.
Census data estimates that about 21 percent of people living in Fresno County are foreign born. That does not take into account their citizenship status.
Fresno already may lose out on millions in federal funding if more isn't done to improve undercounting of low-income communities. Adding a question about citizenship only will worsen the undercount, advocates say.
As part of a pilot program to identify housing units not included in census data, Cindy Quezada led a group that spoke to 53 immigrants in Fresno, Huron, Madera and Parlier about the census. The researchers found many of the immigrants never participated in the census despite living here for more than 10 years. They also believed the census only was for citizens and didn't know that information gathered for the survey is confidential.
Quezada said adding the citizenship question to the census survey will feed the misconception in immigrant communities that the census is only for U.S. citizens.
"As it is, there is the issue of confidentiality," she said. "People might be a bit wary of giving their personal information, and if you ask this specific question that would be heightened a bit more."
Kissam said the citizenship question won't improve data because it doesn't take into consideration people who are permanent legal residents or family members with different statuses, such as children who were born in the U.S. to foreign-born parents.
Sam Molina, the California director for the national civic engagement group Mi Familia Vota, said the organization is urging Congress to vote against the action.
"It's important for Congresss to take action to reverse this decision," he said. "So we're calling our representatives — Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno), Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Modesto), Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) — to demand they take action."
Fresno City Council President Esmeralda Soria in a tweet also called upon local congressional representatives to oppose the action.
Quezada said more than ever, it's important for the state to funnel census funds to community-based organizations, such as the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative, to begin outreach work.
"I think that if there’s good messaging and good outreach, this can hopefully be addressed. It really is going to take a lot of effort," she said.
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