FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 15th, 2019
Contact: David Carl (505) 288-2465
Albuquerque, NM – Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced a major court victory,
as a judge in New York rejected a proposal that would have required proof of citizenship for all
individuals completing the 2020 census. This proposal was initiated by the Trump administration
in 2018.
“This proposed question was an unlawful, inappropriate, and unfair attack by the Trump
Administration on the native, Hispanic, and non-citizen members of our communities,” said
Attorney General Hector Balderas. “Today’s ruling protects our most vulnerable populations,
and prevents millions in crucial federal dollars from being stolen from New Mexican families.”
New Mexico is estimated to be the state most vulnerable to undercounting in the census. In 2000,
New Mexico suffered the fourth-highest undercount of any state. This undercount is estimated to
have cost the State over a billion dollars, or $100 million dollars annually for the 35,000 persons
who failed to respond to the 2000 census at $2972 per person for each of ten years.
In the 2010 census, some 26.2% of households in New Mexico did not mail back their
questionnaire, and therefore required the Census Bureau to conduct in-person follow-up.
Approximately 43% of the New Mexico population currently lives in hard-to-count
neighborhoods, often requiring in-person follow-up, where available. New Mexico is ranked #1
nationally in Hard-to-Count (HTC) Census tracts, with 78.6% of American Indians/Alaska
Natives living in areas identified as hard-to-count. New Mexico also ranked #1 nationally with
45.4% of children under age 5 living in HTC tracts; New Mexico is ranked #5 with 52.8% of
Hispanics living in HTC Census tracts.
In court documents, AG Balderas noted that over 50% of New Mexico’s Hispanic population
lives in hard-to-count neighborhoods, and that members of our immigrant community account
for 9.5% of New Mexico’s population. In 2014 approximately 37% of New Mexico immigrants
were undocumented and over 115,000 New Mexico residents, including 54,068 persons born in
the United States, lived with at least one undocumented family member between 2010 and 2014