A voting rights expert is weighing in on what President Donald Trump just announced, and says Americans were right to be wary of the administration's goals in adding a citizenship question to the U.S. Census.
While Trump was forced to back down from adding the question to the Census – thanks to the U.S Supreme Court and other federal court rulings – he says he will direct every government department to hand over all data they have to determine how many people in the U.S. are citizens, non-citizens, and undocumented immigrants.
Ari Berman, who writes at Mother Jones and is the author of the book, "Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America," says that Trump's remarks today reveal what the goal has been in adding the citizenship question all along.
Berman points to Trump's comments about the Census and "voter eligible population," saying the goal "all along was to draw districts to shift power to white GOP areas."
"Some states may want to draw districts based on voter eligible population," Trump says There you have it. The goa… https://t.co/p7AECVySzX— Ari Berman (@Ari Berman) 1562881457.0
And Berman continues, saying the danger from GOP activists is not over:
Trump ordering Commerce Dept to still collect citizenship data means GOP can try to draw districts based on citizen… https://t.co/EPmUK5u57p— Ari Berman (@Ari Berman) 1562881778.0
