Dem lawmakers grill Ross on citizenship question

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic lawmakers accused Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross today of secretly orchestrating the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census, citing an email they say shows he misled Congress about the decision.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the chairman of the House oversight panel, said documents show Ross engaged in a campaign to add the question from the first days he joined the Commerce Department.

"These documents showed that he was not merely responding to a request from another agency," Cummings said. "To the contrary, he was choreographing these efforts behind the scenes, he became impatient when his demands were not being met, and he was working directly with officials at the highest levels of the Trump administration to force this issue through."

Ross testified before the House Oversight and Reform Committee in an often contentious hearing. He stuck with his explanation from previous hearings that Justice Department officials made a formal request to include the citizenship question to help it enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The Census Bureau initiated a review to consider alternatives to DOJ's request. Ultimately, Ross determined that reinstating the question was warranted. It was added in March 2018.

Some 18 states, 15 big cities or counties, and immigrants' rights groups have sued the Commerce Department, claiming it failed to properly analyze the effect of the question on households with immigrants.

Two federal judges have declared the move illegal. A federal judge in New York had previously blocked the administration from adding the question to the population count that occurs every 10 years, and the Supreme Court last month agreed to review that decision.