Minnesota will sue against citizenship question on census

Published 8:08 pm Thursday, March 29, 2018

ST. PAUL — Minnesota will join with other states in a lawsuit to block the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census questionnaire.

A spokesman for Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson said the case hasn’t been filed yet, but it will be an action with about a dozen other states.

A group of 21 Democratic state representatives earlier Thursday released a letter thanking Swanson for joining in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by California’s attorney general. But her spokesman, Ben Wogsland, said Minnesota will join a separate case.

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Democrats fear the citizenship question will lead immigrants to dodge the census altogether, diluting representation for states that tend to vote Democratic and costing many communities federal dollars. The administration said the data is needed to better identify voting rights violations.