Xavier Becerra in Our Time Is Now: Power

On Immigration: Sued government for adding "citizenship question" to census

In 2019, the Trump administration attempted to add a "citizenship question" to the census survey. The backlash was immediate, spurring accusations that Trump wanted to have an undercount of people of color, namely Latinos. Defenders of the citizenship question self-righteously asserted that the census has been asking the question [until 1950]. Trump announced his intention of putting the controversial question on the 2020 census. Organizations and a number of states filed suit against the Trump administration.

California secretary of state Alex Padilla helped lead his state's lawsuit, along with state attorney general Xavier Becerra. They argued that the citizenship question was intended to artificially suppress the count, and the consequences for California would be dire. Secretary Padilla laid out the potential effect: "Yes, it does determine federal funding. But more fundamentally, it drives the reapportionment process & California's voice in congress."

Source: Our Time Is Now, by Stacey Abrams, p.170-2 Jun 9, 2020

The above quotations are from Our Time Is Now Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams. Click here for other excerpts from Our Time Is Now Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams. Click here for other excerpts by Xavier Becerra. Click here for a profile of Xavier Becerra.
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Page last updated: Oct 09, 2021