In 2018, CIRS was engaged by the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund to complete research in the San Joaquin Valley among hard to reach populations who might be impacted by the addition of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. The survey was completed in early 2019 and included responses from 418 Latinos and 174 members of other immigrant communities. Our goal was to interrogate a representative sample.
Our results from the survey of Latinos living in 8 San Joaquin Valley counties show that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census would likely have a major impact in suppressing census response among San Joaquin Valley Latino immigrants and their social networks, who make up one-third of the region’s total population.
The first three of four reports on consequences of adding the citizenship question and other barriers to a complete count are available below.