Census seeks state data on citizenship

The U.S. Census Bureau is asking states for drivers’ license records that typically include citizenship data and has made a new request for information on recipients of government assistance, alarming some civil rights advocates.

The two approaches, documented by the Associated Press, come amid President Donald Trump’s efforts to make citizenship a key aspect of federal information-gathering in the runup to the 2020 census, despite this year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a specific citizenship question can’t be included in the 2020 Census questionnaire.

Civil rights advocates worry that the wider net being cast by the Trump administration for such information could chill Latino participation in the population count, which will determine how many congressional seats each state gets and guide the allocation of hundreds of billions of dollars of federal funding. The results of the 2020 census also will be used to redraw state and local electoral maps.

Experts caution that inaccuracies in state motor vehicle records also make them a poor choice for tracking citizenship, if that is the bureau’s goal.

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators told the AP that most, if not all, states recently received requests for information including citizenship status, race, birthdates and addresses. The association has advised members to consult their privacy officers, and “each state is making their own determination how to respond,” spokeswoman Claire Jeffrey said in an email.

The records request doesn’t explicitly ask for citizenship information, but some demographers who work with the bureau on state-level data suspect it’s responsive to the president’s efforts.

Meanwhile, Census Bureau officials have said they will decide by March 31 on a methodology for tracking citizenship. The 2020 census count officially begins the next day, on April 1.