Civil and Human Rights Coalition Calls for Congressional Intervention After Trump Administration Axes New Race and Ethnicity Data Collection Questions

WASHINGTON – In response to the Census Bureau’s announcement that the questionnaire for the 2018 End-to-End Census Test will use race and ethnicity questions from the 2010 Census, instead of updated questions recommended by Census Bureau staff, Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement:

“America is more diverse than ever. Accurate, detailed data are an essential tool for ensuring equal opportunity and access to the nation’s institutions and resources for all people, but especially those who have been victims of discrimination historically. The Trump administration has clearly bowed to opponents of diversity and those who view immigrants as a threat to the nation’s future, rather than as a defining characteristic of our nation’s strength and leadership in the world.

We are alarmed that the new administration is discarding years of painstaking, objective research that would improve the collection and reporting of this data. Reverting to the 2010 Census race and ethnicity questions for the upcoming census ‘dress rehearsal’ suggests that OMB will not revise the official standards for collecting and reporting this data, despite recommendations from a federal agency working group to do so.

We call on Congress to investigate why the administration undermined a comprehensive and, frankly, overdue examination of whether official statistics reflect the full diversity of our rapidly changing population. Congress should not allow the Trump administration’s misguided decision to overturn recommendations from expert Census Bureau staff.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.