Believe it or not, many locals want a citizenship question on 2020 census

The Trump administration wants to add a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

Locally, it’s a sensitive subject that many non-profit organizations who support immigration wouldn’t comment on, and many locals rejected giving their take on camera.

News 11 spoke to people in Yuma and Somerton where the consensus from many people was that a question about citizenship is necessary on the 2020 census.

Like Steve McClanahan , who said ” I think [the census] should have [a citizenship question] on there. Just so we can find out who’s a citizen and who’s not because a lot of the services people get depends on citizenship. ”

However, there were a few people who disagreed, saying that citizenship has nothing to do with getting everyone in our nation accounted for.

Jesus Vasquez from Somerton told News 11, ” It shouldn’t matter, even though they’re not citizens yet. They should get help from things that the government offers. That’ll be a good step for them to want to get their citizenship even more. ”

The director of Campesinos Sin Fronteras , Emma Torres, sent News 11 a statement saying:

” I am happy to hear that [the citizenship question] will not be included in the census since if it was included it would have a detrimental impact on minority communities who may not feel comfortable answering that question. ”

Data from the census is used to allocate congressional seats and distribute billions of federal dollars to states and local municipalities.

So, the higher the population, the more money that could come to our area.