A group of 17 states and seven cities announced Tuesday that it will sue the Trump administration to prevent the inclusion of a question about citizenship status on the 2020 U.S. census.

The coalition, which is led by New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman, will argue that asking respondents whether they are in the country legally will decrease participation, violating the “constitutional requirement” that the government accurately count all residents regardless of citizenship status.

[jwplayer i8H2aqJN-wKJ9CRQU]

During a Tuesday president conference announcing the suit, Schneiderman suggested that the inclusion of a citizenship question is intended to depress census participation in blue states, shrinking their congressional delegations.

“This is really just an effort to punish places like New York that welcome immigrants, that are accommodating to immigrants and embrace the American tradition of open arms for all,” Schneiderman said. “We stand to lose money because this determines congressional representation and the Electoral College. This is an affront to our national ideals and this is an affront to the constitution.”

Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross announced in late March that the administration would return to asking census respondents about their citizenship status for the first time since 1950.

Schneiderman is joined in the suit by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington state, and Washington, D.C. Also signing on are the cities of New York, Seattle, Providence, Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, along with the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors.

California filed a similar lawsuit immediately after the administration announced the policy change, which was originally requested by the Department of Justice to facilitate enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.