"Trump is poisoning the Census with bias" the release said. "This decision is just the latest in the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrant communities and other vulnerable populations."
On Monday, the Commerce Department announced that the next decennial US Census will include a question on whether residents are US citizens for the first time since 1950.
The citizenship question threatens to undermine the tally’s goal by intimidating citizens and non-citizens alike from participating in a process which directly affects their lives, the release said.
Census data is used to determine US states’ representation in the House of Representatives and the distribution of federal funds to state and local governments. Meanwhile, the Trump administration maintains that citizenship data is needed to enforce US voting rights laws.