Each and every month, the US Census Bureau conducts at least one survey that includes a question about citizenship.

In many months, there are a number of surveys with that question, which is usually tucked in toward the end, like it’s an afterthought.

And this has been going on for as long as anyone can remember.

One of those surveys is the Current Population Survey (CPS), which the Census Bureau conducts monthly on behalf of the US Labor Department. The CPS is used to determine the nation’s unemployment rate, among other things.

That’s why the current heated controversy over including a citizenship question in the constitutionally mandated 2020 Decennial Census, in my opinion, is nonsense.

The Decennial Census will take place next year — as it does every 10 years — and the issue of including a citizenship question has already resulted in rebukes of the Trump administration from Democrats in Congress and threats that the matter might even have to go to the Supreme Court.

Stupid! A waste of time and money.

If you don’t believe me that this is a moot issue, I’ll let you find the citizenship questions for yourself.

Search on Google for the questionnaire for the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS), which is conducted monthly by the Census Bureau and is a sister survey to the 2010 Decennial Census.

Slide down to Page 8 to see the citizenship questions.

Question 7 is: “Where was this person born?” You have to give the state where you were born.

If that doesn’t apply, it asks for the name of the foreign country in which you were born. “Or Puerto Rico, Guam, etc.”

The next question, No. 8, gets right to the point: “Is this person a citizen of the United States?”

If you answer yes, you skip the next couple of questions. If no, you can check a box for Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands or Northern Marianas.

Another choice is “yes, born abroad of US citizen parent or parents.” And the last choice is “yes, US citizen by naturalization.” Then you have to give the year you were naturalized.

The CPS also asks citizenship questions, but way down at the bottom of the massive “Labor Force Items” section of the questionnaire. You can also find this online through a Google search.

This is more of the script that the census workers follow rather than a fill-it-yourself questionnaire. And the pages aren’t numbered.

The citizenship questions go like this:

In what country (was/were) (name/you) born?

In what country was (your/his/her) mother born?

In what country was (your/his/her) father born?

(Are/Is) (name/you) a CITIZEN of the United States?

Were/was (name/you) born a citizen of the United States?

Did (name/you) become a citizen of the United States through naturalization?

When did (name/you) come to live in the United States?

Other government surveys, including the Health Interview Survey conducted by Census for the Centers for Disease Control, also ask citizenship questions, and have for years.

It’s clear that the citizenship questions are intentionally placed at the end of these surveys so that the person being questioned cooperates in giving a whole lot of personal information before the sensitive issue of where they were born comes up.

This won’t be any different if the question is included in the Decennial Census next year.

Census-takers have no way of corroborating the facts being given to them. If someone wants to lie, they can lie with impunity.

“In my 19 years of experience at Census, I have never had anyone refuse to answer the citizenship question,” says Stefani Butler, who worked at the bureau until she resigned in 2017. Butler was my whistleblower for several stories about Census wrongdoing.

She supports asking the citizenship question.

“We were taught to ask all questions matter-of-factly. What [people] tend not to answer are income-related questions,” Butler says. But she does remember people cutting the interview short when the citizenship question came up — which is likely why this is asked at the end of the survey.

In the case of someone refusing to answer the citizenship question, the census surveyor merely records a “refused” on his forms. The person questioned is then neither a citizen nor a non-citizen in the survey.

But his interview is still recorded as having taken place — and, as far as a headcount is concerned, the person still exists.

Democrats are afraid the citizenship question will result in an under-counting of people who align with their party. And that would mean fewer representatives in the House and less federal money to their districts.

But, as I just showed, there are ways the citizenship question can be asked — and is already being asked — without any ill effects.

And what if the Democrats are right, and asking about citizenship will cause a lot of bad statistics to be produced? Well, then a whole lot of government data from decades of previous surveys, during both Democrat and Republican administrations are already wrong.

It’s funny that nobody thought of questioning any of this until now.