Norton Introduces Bill to Prohibit Census Questions on Citizenship, Nationality, and Immigration Status

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced a bill today that would prohibit questions on citizenship, nationality, and immigration status on the decennial census.

"Questions on citizenship, nationality and immigration status undermine the census by driving down responses, especially from minorities," Norton said. "Since the all-important issues of congressional apportionment and federal funding rely on an accurate census, we must do everything we can to ensure this unnecessary and harmful question is never allowed on the census.”

Information on citizenship is already obtained through the American Community Survey.

Norton’s introductory statement follows.

Statement of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

On the Introduction of the Ensuring Full Participation in the Census Act of 2024

April 9, 2024

Today, I introduce the Ensuring Full Participation in the Census Act of 2024, which would prohibit the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) from including questions on the decennial census about citizenship, nationality or immigration status.

Prior to the 2020 census, the Department of Justice wrote to the Bureau requesting that it “reinstate on the 2020 [c]ensus questionnaire a question regarding citizenship.”  From 1970-2000, this question was sent to only approximately 16 percent of the population in the decennial census through the so-called “long-form.”  However, the long-form system was dropped from the census and replaced with the current American Community Survey (ACS).  The ACS is sent to approximately three million people annually on a rotational basis, and allows the Bureau to get the necessary information on citizenship.  Asking questions about citizenship status to every person in the decennial census has not been done in almost 70 years because it would discourage people, largely minorities, who are already undercounted in the census, from participating in the census.  The ACS was created to make the decennial census simpler for people to complete, which facilitates higher participation rates and preserves privacy. 

Fortunately, after a protracted legal and political process, the citizenship question was not included on the 2020 census.  However, this legislation is necessary to ensure it cannot be asked on a future decennial census.  The representative sampling provided by the ACS is more than sufficient to determine citizenship statistics in the U.S.  We must ensure that all individuals are counted in the decennial census, thereby providing accurate allocation of federal funds and representation in Congress, and not reduce participation by asking a question that is already asked elsewhere.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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