Seattle joined a lawsuit Tuesday pushing back against a new citizenship question on the 2020 Census.
The multi-state lawsuit, which was led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, claims it is unconstitutional to ask people about their citizenship status on the Census. Opponents also worry immigrants would be less likely to participate for fear of retribution.
“Donald Trump and his administration wants to take the Census back to the 1950s with an unreasonable, unjust and unconstitutional proposal,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a statement.
Durkan argued the new Census question could skew Seattle’s population count and cause the Emerald City to lose critical federal funding if communities of color aren’t counted accurately.
The federal Commerce Department announced last week it would reinstate a citizenship question for the first time in 70 years.
Seattle is one of six cities joining the lawsuit, including San Francisco, New York City, and Chicago. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced last Tuesday Washington would join 17 other states, including Oregon, in the suit.
Washington state receives $13.7 billion from federal assistance programs based on decennial Census data, according to the city of Seattle.
