Cameron County commissioners voted Tuesday to join the legal battle against the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 U.S. census.
Cameron County commissioners voted Tuesday to join the legal battle against the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 U.S. census.
Commissioners voted to hire attorney Rolando Rios to represent them in the lawsuit filed by 16 states, among other plaintiffs, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The vote passed 3-0 with Precinct 1 Commissioner Sofia C. Benavides and Precinct 3 Commissioner David A. Garza absent.
Hidalgo County commissioners also voted Tuesday to join the lawsuit.
“Historically, Hispanics have been undercounted,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Alex Dominguez said. “Given this administration’s hostility toward (minorities), there’s fear of acknowledging their status,” he continued, even among U.S. citizens who have undocumented family members.
Results of the count have far-ranging impacts, from determining how congressional districts will be drawn to funneling more than $675 billion in federal funds.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced last month that the citizenship question would be added to the census in response to a request from the Department of Justice, which characterized the move as necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act. The Commerce Department oversees the Census Bureau, which conducts a census every 10 years as dictated by the Constitution.
“There’s a reason that question had not been asked since 1950,” County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. said. “The goal of the census should be to count every person in a particular region.”
The addition of a citizenship question is the presidential administration’s move to “weaponize the census and dilute the amount of minority participants and representation,” Treviño said.
