“Is this person a citizen of the United States?” This is the question that has sparked controversy, created panic among minority groups and caused many states, including California and New York, to sue the Trump administration. 

Since 1790, when the country first conducted the U.S. Census, the Constitution has required a census every 10 years to determine state representation in Congress. The uproar surrounding this question’s inclusion stems from the concern that the 2020 Census will be dramatically skewed due to fear and distrust of the U.S. government by the American public. 

The number of electors representing each state in the electoral college is based on the state’s population, which they count via the census. California currently holds 55 electoral college votes, but this impressive and powerful number will drop like cement bricks in mud as soon as they distribute this census. 

California isn’t the only state pushing against the Trump administration and its ideals for the next census. In fact, along with New York, the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington “quickly said they would join the lawsuit, with state officials condemning the citizenship question as an ‘arbitrary’ one that would ‘only do harm,’” said Nick Visser of the Huffington Post.

It’s easy to confidently state that California has a considerably immense immigrant population.  According to the American Immigration Council, “immigrants now account for over one quarter of [California’s] population and comprise nearly 34 percent of the entire labor force.” The members of this specific population sustain an unmistakably firm role in determining California’s number of electoral votes. 

It can easily be assumed that as soon as this census question hits the public eye, the immigrant population will suddenly disappear, and it won’t be a mystery as to why. This may not seem like such a big deal, but it can actually cause devastating political consequences.

As soon as the census reveals for California, and other states, a lower or skewed population, these states could potentially have votes and seats taken away from them. This census could force political power away from the public’s hands and toward the favor of a government that is unrepresentative of its own country.

This conclusion could arrive via one of two ways: undocumented immigrants or people in immigrant families will either answer untruthfully or not respond at all.The question’s inclusion “could cause many immigrants to skip the 2020 census out of fear their information could be used against them,” D’Vera Cohn of the Pew Research Center said, “even though it is illegal to share a person’s census responses with law enforcement or immigration agencies.”

Critics of the question agree this “couldn’t come at a worse time, as many in immigrant communities are already losing trust in officials and afraid to answer their doors,” said Catherine Shoichet of CNN. 

In addition to Cohn’s prediction of immigrants skipping the 2020 Census all together, another option to get past this seemingly sticky situation is to lie. Untruthful responses may seem harmless and even the safer, smarter route to an immigrant census taker, but in reality there are consequences to this too. 

Beyond calculating the number of representatives each state gets in Congress, and the number of votes each state gets in the electoral college, the census helps to decide the amount of federal funding local governments get for programs like Medicaid, Head Start and the National School Lunch Program.

With so many delicate families, organizations, and livelihoods in the balance, is this question really worth it? The political climate and social constructs we live with every day support California and its fellow opposing states to be free and clear in their efforts to get the question removed for good.