New York, NY-Late Thursday evening, a federal court ordered the Trump administration to abandon last-minute changes to the 2020 Census schedule and extend the time for counting for an additional month. The preliminary injunction, issued by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in the Northern District of California, requires the Census Bureau to keep trying to tally the country's residents through October 31. Additionally, Judge Koh barred officials from delivering completed data to the White House on December 31 rather than the original April 2021 delivery date. The ruling came after evidence revealed that top Census Bureau officials believed ending the head count early would seriously endanger its accuracy.
In response to the ruling, Meeta Anand, Census 2020 Senior Fellow for the New York Immigration Coalition, issued the following statement.
“Once again, the courts have blocked Trump’s campaign to politicize the 2020 Census and exclude our immigrant communities. Judge Koh’s ruling bought us 36 more days to complete the 2020 Census. While we celebrate this decision, we know that this deadline could change again and New Yorkers cannot afford to squander this opportunity! At stake is our political power and billions of federal dollars for schools, hospitals, public transportation and more for the next decade. If we hope to rebuild New York amid a global pandemic and economic recession, we must ensure every New Yorker is counted as soon as possible.”
Four Fast Facts About the 2020 Census
- By law, the U.S. government is constitutionally required to count the number of people living in the United States every 10 years. The Census is critically important in determining how billions of dollars of federal dollars are allocated to states for local schools, hospitals, libraries, businesses, and more, as well as for ensuring New York’s representation in Congress. All New Yorkers from all backgrounds, regardless of immigration status, must be counted—this includes children, seniors, people who are homeless or undocumented, and people of all nationalities.
- The 2020 Census will end on October 31. You can respond online to be counted here: my2020census.gov. Starting in August, Census door-knockers began conducting interviews of New York households that did not self-respond. If someone knocks on your door and says that they are a Census worker, ask to see their ID, and know that you are safe to share information about your household size, race, address and the names of those residing with you with them for the purposes of the 2020 Census. There is no reason they should require your social security number or any other similar identifying information. Sample questions from the 2020 Census are here: https://2020census.gov/en/about-questions.html
- The Census is safe, secure and confidential. No individual’s data can be shared with any other government agencies by law—and that includes no data sharing is allowed with the Department of Homeland Security.
- There is no citizenship question on the 2020 Census. The New York Immigration Coalition and allies fought the Trump administration all the way to the Supreme Court to block the blatant attempt to politicize the Census with a citizenship question.