The Honorable Wilbur L.

Ross August 7, 2018

Secretary of Commerce
U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20230

Secretary Ross,

We, the members of the Colorado Democratic Latin@ Legislative caucus, are writing to
express our strong opposition to the proposed addition of a citizenship question into the
2020 Census. The unnecessary addition of this untested question would have serious
impacts on public trust in the Census and the accuracy of this critical instrument, and
would have repercussions for our democratic institutions for years to come.

First and foremost, the goal of the Census is to accurately determine the population
across our country every ten years. The Constitution requires the federal government to
conduct an “actual Enumeration” of “all persons” in each state – not only citizens – and
subsequent constitutional amendments and Supreme Court case law have affirmed that
congressional districts must have equal numbers of people pursuant to equal
representation protections.

There has not been a citizenship question on the official, full Census in nearly 70 years,
and no convincing evidence has been presented as to why this question should be added
at this point. Indeed, the Census Bureau has previously argued that “any effort to
ascertain citizenship will inevitably jeopardize the overall accuracy of the population
count,” so this would be a substantial departure from longstanding practice and evidence-
based policy. Information about citizenship is gathered through other surveys in more
efficient and cost-effective ways, so the addition is not only unwarranted but would
actually be harmful to the critical effort of accurately determining population counts
across the country.

Multiple former directors of the Census Bureau have expressed concerns to the U.S.
Supreme Court that citizenship questions are very sensitive for immigrant communities
and that the addition of this untested question to the Census would result in inaccurate
Census data.1 There are genuine fears that data collected about citizenship would be used

1
Brief of Former Directors of the U.S. Census Bureau as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellees at 25,
Evenwel v. Abbott, 136 U.S. 120 (2016) (No. 14-940).

1

for other purposes, including immigration enforcement.2 It’s understandable that
immigrants and members of the Latino community would be fearful of participating in
the Census if there are questions demanding that individuals state their immigration
status.

Anything that threatens the core goal of the Census by diminishing trust in the process in
the population at large or in specific communities should not be tolerated. We have grave
concerns that in the current political climate, the addition of a citizenship question would
do exactly that – and an inaccurate count of our nation’s population would have far-
reaching impacts on the future of our state and nation.

Census data is used for a range of critical purposes. First and foremost, it is used to
determine representation in Congress for each of the states. States with large immigrant
and Latino populations stand to lose their due representation and power in the federal
government if people are uncounted, and America’s government will not be truly
reflective of her people. These communities will be doubly impacted when it comes to
state-level redistricting and reapportionment; Census data underpins the map-drawing
processes, so people will not be fairly represented in their state governments either. The
accuracy of the Census has substantial implications for our democracy and the
Constitutional mandate of equal representation and it is absolutely critical that it be set up
for success.

This data is also used as a foundation for other key functions of our democracy and
government. Census information is used to determine federal funding allocations at the
state and local levels for essential issues like infrastructure and housing development,
early childhood education programs, and compensation to county governments for
forgone tax revenue for federally-owned land; in a state like Colorado with significant
federally and publically owned land this source of funding is critically important.
Colorado currently receives over $8 billion in federal funding tied to key Census
population data and is experiencing a rapidly growing population, so it is of critical
importance to ensure that Coloradans are counted accurately.3

The validity of the Census carries significant constitutional, democratic, and fiscal
consequences. The addition of an unnecessary, untested and highly fraught citizenship
question will undermine this critical tool and put its validity in jeopardy, with
disproportionate impacts on immigrant and Latino communities and the states where they
live. We urge you to discard this question and to proceed with the Census as originally
planned, and to dedicate sufficient resources to ensure a successful process. The stakes
for our state, our nation, and our democratic institutions could not be higher.

2
Judge orders Trump administration to restore DACA program
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/federal-judge-orders-trump-administration-restore-daca-
program/story?id=57027321 Accessed August 4, 2018
3
https://gwipp.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2181/f/downloads/Colorado%2008-18-17.pdf Accessed August
6, 2018

2

Sincerely,

Adrienne Benavidez Donald Valdez

Democratic Latin@ Caucus Co-Chair Democratic Latin@ Caucus Co-Chair
State Representative, District 32 State Representative, District 62

Crisanta Duran Leroy Garcia

Speaker of the House Senate Democratic Leader
State Representative, District 5 State Senator, District 3

Dan Pabon Lucia Guzman

State Representative, District 4 Assistant Senate Democratic Leader
State Senator, District 34

Joe Salazar Dominick Moreno

State Representative, District 31 State Senator, District 21

Irene Aguilar
State Senator, District 32

CC: U.S. Senator Michael Bennet Congressman Ken Buck

U.S. Senator Cory Gardner Congressman Doug Lamborn
Congresswoman Diana DeGette Congressman Mike Coffman
Congressman Jared Polis Congressman Ed Perlmutter
Congressman Scott Tipton

Denver Census Bureau Regional Office

6950 W Jefferson Ave
Suite 250
Lakewood, CO 80235