New York will lead a coalition of Democratic states in a lawsuit against the Trump administration over a decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 US census.

The census is carried out every 10 years and helps to determine political representation in Congress, federal funding of programs and other matters.

The US Department of Commerce said in a press release on Monday night citizenship data would help the Department of Justice enforce the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voting rights.

Last month, a coalition of state attorneys general urged the commerce department not to add such a question, saying it could lower participation among immigrants and cause a population undercount.

New York’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, announced the lawsuit on Tuesday. He said the question asking residents about their citizenship status would create fear and mistrust in immigrant communities and could skew census results if some immigrants choose not to participate.



Officials in other heavily Democratic states including New Jersey, Massachusetts and California have said they will sue over the census question.

Schneiderman said the decision to add the question “directly targets” states with large immigrant populations.

Democratic lawmakers had been bracing for the decision, making a point to question the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, during congressional hearings.



After Monday’s announcement the Democratic House leader, Nancy Pelosi, condemned the idea. In a statement, Pelosi said a citizenship question would terrify already vulnerable people and “cause traditionally undercounted communities to be even further underrepresented, financially excluded and left behind”.



Some Republican lawmakers hailed the decision. Senators Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas had sent a letter to the commerce department, asking Ross to add the question.

In contrast, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus issued a statement describing the decision as “yet another action by the Trump administration to instill fear in communities and further an anti-immigrant agenda”.

California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, said his state was “prepared to do what we must to protect California from a deficient census. Including a citizenship question on the 2020 census is not just a bad idea – it is illegal.”

The Massachusetts secretary of state, William Galvin, a Democrat, called the census decision “a blatant attempt by the Trump administration to frighten minority groups away from being counted”.

In an interview with Fox Business, Ross insisted that the question was added at the request of the Department of Justice to protect minorities. “The justice department feels they need it so that they can enforce section two of the voting rights act, which protects minority voters,” said Ross.

The commerce department said that between 1820 and 1950, almost every decennial census asked a question on citizenship in some form.

However, the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, falsely insisted on Tuesday that the question had been included on every census since 1965, with the exception of 2010.

She described the decision as “something that the commerce department feels should be part of the census”.

