Up Close: Rep. Espaillat on the census, Dominican Republic deaths

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The Supreme Court said you can't ask a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

President Trump went back and forth about what he planned to do. Finally he decided to take a parallel track and ordered the Commerce Department - which coordinates the census - to figure out another way to find out how many non-citizens are living in this country.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York City, who was once an undocumented immigrant, now obviously a citizen, talked to us about what the census provides.

On another topic, Espaillat, who was born in the Dominican Republic, went back to his homeland last week as a tourist to find out what's going on after more than a dozen deaths in the country.

The government says the cause was from various health conditions.

The congressman spoke with us about what he discovered.

Plus, the Port Authority is about to start public hearings on proposed toll and fare hikes. So why does the agency need more money? And why now? We ask Executive Director Rick Cotton.

Bill Ritter talks to Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton about the proposal.

And joining us to discuss the controversy over the census along with all things political, is political consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

Bill Ritter talks to political analyst Hank Sheinkopf.