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The city of Phoenix, Arizona is joining multiple cities and states in a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from including a citizenship question on the 2020 Census.

Last week, The members of the City Council approved a measure allowing Phoenix to participate in the lawsuit. Seven council members supported the measure and two voted against it.

The seven council members believe that the citizenship question could lead to an undercount. As a result, Phoenix will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.

Citizenship question poses serious consequences

In a statement, Councilman Daniel Valenzuela said the decision of the U.S. Department of Commerce to include the citizenship question on the 2020 Census “poses serious consequences for Phoenix.”

“Our city stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding from an undercount. I believe it is appropriate for the City Council to publicly vote on the issue of whether to pursue litigation against the federal government,” he said.

On the other hand, Councilwoman Kate Gallego, said the federal government added the citizenship question to "intimidate people into not participating in the census.”

Phoenix stands to lose $170 million every year

Data from the Census Bureau showed that undocumented immigrants represent approximately 13% of Phoenix’s population, according to deputy city manager Karen Peters.

Peters said Phoenix stands to lose $350 in state funding and $150  in state funding every year for every person not counted . She estimated that the city could lose a total of $170 million annually.

Meanwhile, Mayor Greg Stanton commented that Peters’ estimate was conservative. He said the citizenship question is “bad for a lot of different reasons--not just the money, not just the political representation.”

He added, “We have to know who’s in our community, who’s in our country. We have to do an accurate census.”