Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (Position 8, Citywide), Chair of Council’s Housing, Health, Energy and Workers’ Rights Committee, and co-chair of the City’s Census Task Force issued the following statement after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 census:
“Today’s ruling sends a message to our immigrant communities that xenophobia, whims and blatant racism will not be the law of this country,” said Councilmember Mosqueda. “While consideration of the citizenship question, along with a number of other federal policies, have already done significant damage to trust in our immigrant and refugee communities, today, our government’s checks and balances worked. There is much work to be done to rebuild trust and to ensure all of Seattle’s residents are protected, but today we celebrate a victory.”
The City of Seattle was part of a lawsuit brought by a coalition of more than 30 Attorneys General, counties, cities, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors to block the administration from demanding citizenship information on the survey form.