Immigrants should not fear that they could somehow be deported for answering a proposed census question next year about their citizenship status, Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham told a Utah audience on Tuesday.
“Federal laws say that we will never in our lifetime reveal confidential information,” including how specific individuals answer that question, he told a morning newsmaker breakfast at the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.
“If we do, we can well go to prison for an extended period of time as well as pay a $250,000 fine, and I’m not up to either one of those,” he said.