California urges resistance to census citizenship question

California’s top elections official is urging the state’s residents to oppose a Trump administration plan for a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Tuesday launched an online portal for Californians to submit public comments through the federal registrar opposing the question.

He and other officials warn a citizenship question will discourage immigrants from participating in the decennial count. The census count determines each state’s representation in Congress and how much federal funding it gets.

California and other states have sued the federal government to block the question from appearing on the 2020 census.

The Trump administration has said the U.S. Justice Department requested the question for better enforcement of voting rights laws. But newly released documents show U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross requested it.