Last week President Trump announced the fight over the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 census isn't over and that the administration is working on making it happen.
The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2019
The White House is firmly standing by the push to include the question and arguing Americans have the right to know who is in their country.
"It's fascinating to me we're at a weird place in American where President Donald Trump is being asked why he wants this question included in te census and Democrat aren't being asked why they don't [want it included]," White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said during an interview with Fox News this week. "A version of this question has been on the census since the 1800s."
"The President is going back and taking a look and saying, 'I'm going to use everything in my legal authority to make sure this question is added to the census because the American people have a right to know just who's in this country,'" Hogan continued. "The fact remains we want to know who's in this country as a citizen and who is in this country who isn't a citizen."
Yesterday, Attorney General Bill Barr announced Department of Justice attorneys have found a way to include the question. He also reaffirmed the Supreme Court's finding that the question is legal. The Trump Administration is up against a printing deadline for the 2020 census and has explored all options to include the question.