With debate heating up over the Trump administration’s plan to ask respondents to the 2020 Census if they’re U.S. citizens, Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn appeared today on CounterSpin, a daily podcast hosted by Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), a media watchdog group.

In a conversation with host Janine Jackson, Hobert Flynn detailed how the citizenship query is likely to persuade tens of thousands of people – citizens and non-citizens alike – to simply discard the Census form and go uncounted. That will shortchange the communities where those folks live of millions of dollars worth of federal services that are apportioned based on population.

Worse yet, because the undercount will be highest in the urban communities that are home to most immigrants and people of color, the people in those communities will be under-represented in Congress and their state legislatures.

You can listen to the full interview here. Hobert Flynn’s portion of the program is the second item on the page.

###