In 2010, approximately 1 million children under the age of 5 were not counted in the census. That meant less state funding for critical services like Early Head Start and SNAP.
For the first time in decades, the 2020 census will include a question asking whether or not each counted person is a citizen. On April 23, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on this idea.
If undocumented immigrants choose not to fill out the questionnaire, then the official population of several states would deflate, costing them House seats and federal funding.
The majority of US state legislatures are controlled by Republicans because legislative districts are drawn to favor them. Voters are catching on, but change will be slow.
Recent changes to the 2020 census are worrying experts who say they may lead to an undercount. It’s an issue other democracies have also grappled with throughout history.
Asian-Americans are extremely diverse. Fear of giving the government personal data may make it more difficult to provide the right educational, health care and other services to specific populations.
The upcoming census, like many before it, will boil complex information on race, ethnicity and ancestry into just two questions. That leaves a lot of important information out of the data.
The Department of Justice wants to add a citizenship question to the next census. That could mess up the Census Bureau’s data and damage public trust in the system.