Lawmakers are requesting a briefing regarding the possible undercounting of Detroit and other communities in the 2020 Census.
According to The Hill:
Democratic members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Thursday asked the U.S. Census Bureau for a briefing on potential undercounting that occurred during the 2020 census, particularly in Detroit.
In their letter, Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.), Jamie Raskin (Md.), Brenda Lawrence (Mich.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) cited a recent analysis from the University of Michigan that found resident units in Detroit may have been undercounted by as much as 8.1 percent.
The lawmakers requested that the Census Bureau sit for a briefing later this month and provide information on the bureau’s process of analyzing potential undercounts, steps being taken to address any miscounts and what steps communities can take to amend their populations if an undercount has occurred.
“The Census Bureau was forced to execute the 2020 Census under extremely challenging conditions, including the coronavirus pandemic that forced the Bureau to cut short the Census timeline and alter procedures,” said the committee members.
“The 2020 Census also suffered from repeated efforts by the Trump Administration to politicize the Census for partisan gain, including failed efforts to add a citizenship question, exclude undocumented immigrants from the count, and speed up data processing to exert more political control over the outcome.”
