Eddie Rodriguez
New question is a political play that will harm service delivery & disenfranchise Latinos.
Austin, Texas – On Monday, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it would satisfy the Department of Justice’s request to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. At least twelve states indicated they would sue the Trump administration in response as of Wednesday morning.
State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez represents Southeast Austin’s House District 51 in the Texas House of Representatives. Rep. Rodriguez serves as Policy Chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and on the House Committee on Redistricting.
State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez issued the following statement regarding the 2020 Census:
“The effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census is a scare tactic designed to frighten people out of participation and the first step in the national Republican campaign to gerrymander redistricting in 2021. Texas Attorney General Paxton showed his hand when he went to bat for the citizenship question and asked for it to be included ‘to give state legislatures the best available source of citizenship data’ for redistricting. This question is unnecessary for enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, and AG Paxton’s disregard for the numerous federal court rulings of intentional discrimination by the legislature that have been handed down to his office and promptly appealed casts doubt on his stated intentions.
“From healthcare to housing, Texas and its cities rely on the hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding they receive based on the number of people who live here to provide crucial services. The citizenship question is a political power play that only stands to hurt Texans and minimize the growing Latino population’s representation in the government without serving a compelling public interest.
“As Policy Chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, I stand with MALC Vice Chair González and House Border Caucus Chair Blanco in asking Governor Greg Abbott and AG Paxton to lead for all Texans and request that the U.S. Commerce Department remove the citizenship question from the 2020 Census.