The administration perpetually dedicated to bad math and ditching essential data collection is back at it: On Wednesday, the Census Bureau proposed a new set of rules to exclude noncitizens, remove questions about race and ethnicity, and block questions about sexual orientation. The changes, if approved, could be implemented as soon as 2030, or the next planned count.
“The administration’s proposal is a flagrant assault on our democracy, designed to manipulate voting maps and dilute the political representation of diverse American communities,” William Roberts, the senior vice president of Rights and Justice at the Center for American Progress, announced in a statement. “Congress has final authority over the census, and the public has 30 days to write their representatives and oppose this rule.”
Most shocking of the proposals is the change in definition of one’s “usual residence,” established since the first census in 1790 as the main factor that determines where people should be counted. Specifically, the administration is seeking to exclude noncitizens without a green card, which the 14th Amendment states must include the “whole number of persons in each state.” In the census’ 236-year history, the U.S. has never excluded residents for their immigration status.
All this comes a little more than a year after Trump ordered the Department of Commerce, which oversees the Census Bureau, to block undocumented immigrants from the survey. That plan was already expected to face legal blocks, largely because not counting every person would be considered a violation of the Constitution, which explicitly calls for an actual count of all persons living in the U.S. (Trump also attempted to implement a citizenship question in 2020, but was then blocked by the Supreme Court.) However, this week’s proposed changes are even more sweeping than his previous attempts, because they also target immigrants who are legally in the country but don’t have a lawful permanent resident status.
The changes seeking to prohibit questions about race and ethnicity are also alarming, given they’ve historically been used to produce population data essential for shaping congressional districts and enforcing the Voting Rights Act—a law that’s been hollowed out by the Trump-friendly Supreme Court. Dangerously, this will likely risk anti-discrimination protections, a concern that will extend to LGBTQ+ people by blocking questions about sexual orientation.
“Eliminating questions on race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation strips our government of critical data needed to ensure vital resources are extended to the communities who need them most,” Roberts warns. Alas, just another way we can’t count on this administration.
