The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 to protect the voting rights of mostly black voters in mostly Southern states. The concern is that the first figure in particular would rise substantially if a citizenship question were added. “[N]either the Census Bureau nor the concerned stakeholders could document that the response rate would in fact decline materially,” he writes. During focus group interviews conducted by the Census Bureau roughly six months into Trump’s presidency, immigrants appeared anxious and reluctant to cooperate with Census Bureau interviewers. Those areas would see fewer resources allocated by the government and smaller population estimates for House redistricting should the citizenship question be added and response rates decline.

Source: Washington Post March 27, 2018 16:05 UTC