Restraining Order Request Seeks to Block Shortening of Time For Census Count

A three-member panel of federal judges in Maryland will hear oral arguments Monday on whether to grant a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from ending the 2020 Census count a month earlier than previously scheduled.

Lawyers with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), and the international law firm WilmerHale argue Latino and Asian-American voters would be harmed by the administration’s plans cut short the Census collection of household data by a month.

On Sept.1, attorneys filed a motion seeking the temporary restraining order.

Locally, officials have been pushing for a greater response to the 2020 Census in order to avoid an undercount that could have a devastating impact on local funding.

Population counts from the 2020 census will not only be used to determine how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets for the next decade, but also decide the distribution of nearly $900 billion in federal funding for such things as schools, road construction and repair, and many other public services and projects.

While Pasadena’s census response rates remain above national, state, and county averages at 69.6 percent, federal data shows that figure is still far below the 71.7 percent rate seen during the previous census in 2010.

Pasadena and several other cities have been encouraging residents to participate in the census and have formed Complete Count Committees (CCCs) which seek out immigrant communities and encourage residents to participate in the census.

In August, city spokesperson Lisa Derderian told Pasadena Now that the “once every 10-year civic responsibility” provides officials with data they will use to dole out “hundreds of millions of dollars for health care, housing, first responders, schools, and transportation (and) programs used to support our most vulnerable populations.”

This census is a particularly crucial one, Derderian said, because, “For the first time in history, California is at risk of losing two seats in Congress due to potential undercounts, including one seat for Pasadena’s local representative.”

Last year, the Trump administration attempted to include a question of citizenship on the census form. Although disallowed, the prospect of such a thing happening created confusion and fear among immigrants.