Pelosi: Census citizenship question is effort to ‘make America white again’

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) argued Monday that President Trump’s push to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census is an effort to “make America white again” in an adaptation of his campaign slogan.

“This is about keeping — you know his hat — make America white again,” Pelosi said at an event in San Francisco about election security legislation, referring to the red “Make America Great Again” hats that are popular among Trump supporters. 

{mosads}Pelosi, like other critics of adding the citizenship question to the 2020 census, argued that it could result in racial minorities being undercounted so that legislative maps can be drawn more favorably for Republicans.

“They want to make sure that people, certain people, are counted. It’s really disgraceful. And it’s not what our founders had in mind,” Pelosi said. “What they want to do is put a chilling effect so certain populations will not answer the form.”

President Trump told reporters late last week that he is considering an executive order to ensure the citizenship question is included on the census after the Supreme Court blocked the effort in a ruling last month.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Trump administration’s argument that the citizenship question is needed to enforce a federal voting rights law didn’t hold up to the evidence provided in the case. The court said that the Trump administration would have to offer a different legal justification for adding the question. 

The Trump administration initially appeared to relent on pursuing the question. But the Justice Department reversed course last week and said that officials have been ordered to find a way for the Trump administration to include a citizenship question on the census.  

House Democrats have been investigating the Trump administration’s efforts to add the citizenship question. The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted last month to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas for documents about adding the citizenship question to the census. 
Tags Census citizenship question Donald Trump Immigration Nancy Pelosi Supreme Court Wilbur Ross William Barr

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