Chairwoman Maloney Issues Statement on 2020 Census Undercount of Black, Latino, and Indigenous Residents

Washington, D.C. (March 10, 2022)—Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, released the following statement after the U.S. Census Bureau released its undercount and overcount estimates for the 2020 Census, which show the Census undercounted the U.S. population by nearly 19 million, failing to count many Black, Latino, and Indigenous Americans, while overcounting white and Asian Americans.

"I am deeply saddened, but not surprised, at the Census Bureau's findings that people of color were undercounted in the 2020 Census at higher rates than in 2010," said Chairwoman Maloney. "With all of the problems and challenges that faced the 2020 Census, including the Trump Administration's illegal attempt to add a racially-charged citizenship question and to cut short efforts to reach hard-to-count communities in a global pandemic, it was not a question of if there would be an undercount, but to what degree.

"It is particularly striking that Latinos were undercounted at three times the rate compared to the 2010 Census. For this, the blame lies squarely at the feet of the previous Administration for stoking fear within Latino communities with thinly disguised attempts to discourage their participation in the Census and exclude them from the count, coupled with inhumane immigration policies.

"Now these communities could miss out on funding for critical services and suffer diluted representation at every level of government from Congress to school board. Today's report makes clear that reforms are necessary to empower the Census Bureau to do its job without political interference, and I am currently working on a series of reforms to accomplish exactly that."

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