The Census Could Miss Millions, Even Without a Citizenship Question

Lizette Escobedo, director of the census program for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (Naleo) Educational Fund, oversees staff in six states. She runs a bilingual hotline. She produces brochure upon brochure. But overshadowing all her efforts is the reality that thousands of people are frightened just to answer the 2020 questionnaire. “The census has become politicized,” she says. “Many immigrant communities are scared.”

While President Trump failed in his attempt to insert a question about citizenship status into next year’s census, advocacy groups across the country say many Latinos afraid of deportation still might avoid answering. An Urban Institute study found that even without the question, an “increased climate of fear and hesitation to participate” could lead to as many as 2.2 million Latinos going uncounted. That would rob states with many Latino residents—both legal and undocumented—of federal financial support and congressional representation. “All of this distraction with the citizenship question really hindered a lot of the work that we could have been doing around hiring and census operations,” Escobedo says. “It diverted a lot of resources, and it put us behind.”