In the wake of the Trump administration’s plan to ask Americans about their citizenship status in the 2020 census, city officials say answering the question is actually a way of fighting back.

On April 3, J. Phillip Thompson, New York City Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives; Marisa Lago, director of the City Department of City Planning; and Bitta Mostofi, Acting Commissioner for the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, spoke at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s Center for Community & Ethnic Media to discuss the impact of the Trump administration’s latest move, which they say is politically motivated.

Thompson, who remembers the days of segregation, likened the citizenship question to the persecution African-Americans during the period of slavery and Jim Crow South. He said the question was meant to “drive immigrants underground” and that the best way to fight is actually to “stand up and be counted” rather than becoming “invisible.” Mostofi agreed, emphasizing the significance of exercising their voices.

Lago, whose job involves assessing demographics for the city, stressed the importance of an accurate head count. “Federal funding for absolutely critical programs is determined by looking at the census,” she said.

Lago believes it is vitally important to spread the word about how the U.S. Census Bureau uses data to alleviate misconceptions. “The census doesn’t care about the legality of where you live. It just wants to know where people live,” she said. “We do not receive information about individuals.”

The city has joined the state attorney general’s suit against the Trump administration.