El Paso County Commission stands against Citizenship Question on Census

El Paso County Commissioners voted Monday to join a lawsuit against the Department of Commerce to keep a citizenship question out of the 2020 Census.

A majority in the Commissioners Court said they fear adding the question will discourage participation of immigrants in our area and lead to an under-count that could affect the amount of federal funding El Paso receives.

“By joining the lawsuit we are advocating for our taxpayers, who have to make up the lack in funding to our community when we don’t have an accurate population count,” said County Judge Ruben Vogt in a statement. “An under-count also impacts redistricting and our ability to ensure adequate representation is provided at all levels of government.”

El Paso County will join a lawsuit initiated by the state of New York. It includes a coalition of 18 states and the District of Columbia, nine cities, four counties, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, according to a news release. The county approved spending up to $5,000 on the lawsuit.

It is unclear what the state of Texas’ position will be. Governor Greg Abbott has not officially taken a position.

As the Texas Tribune reported in March, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office laid out his stance and the need for the “essential information,” in a February letter to U.S. Census Bureau officials, in which they argued that “a few misguided individuals” were looking to “politicize an apolitical issue by creating a sense of fear and distrust without any supporting evidence.”

LINK: https://www.census.gov/acs/www/about/why-we-ask-each-question/citizenship/