The decision to add a new citizenship question to the upcoming Census 2020 has sparked debates about its impact. In the Talking Points Memo article "The Census Will Ask A Question It Already Knows Spooks Immigrant Communities" by Tierney Sneed, Social Explorer's co-founder and president Andrew Beveridge comments on how the addition of the question could depress responses. 

In even the best environment, adding questions without proper testing and messaging can confuse survey-takers and discourage participation. But the addition of this question is coming as the Trump administration has ramped up anti-immigration policies and the president himself has spewed anti-immigrant rhetoric.

“In the context of various expressed views of the Trump administration, and particularly Trump, about immigration, I think it might chill the participation in the Census of the immigrant community, not just necessarily the citizens but everyone living there,” said Andrew Beveridge, a sociologist and demographics expert at CUNY.

Read the full article here, and learn more about where noncitizens live and background on the new census question here.