The administration of US President Donald Trump has proposed significant changes to how the country’s census is conducted, including removing some noncitizens from the population count.
The proposal, announced by the US Department of Commerce on Wednesday, would continue to count American citizens and lawful permanent residents. However, certain other foreign nationals, including immigrants with temporary legal status and people living in the country without documentation, would not be included.
The US census is conducted every 10 years and plays an important role in determining political representation and the distribution of federal funding. Population figures are used to allocate seats in the US House of Representatives and to determine how government resources are distributed across states and communities.
The proposed changes would also reduce the number of questions about race and ethnicity included in the census questionnaire. The administration said there are concerns about the relevance and usefulness of some of these demographic categories. Officials argued that simplifying the questionnaire could encourage more people to participate and help the Census Bureau obtain more accurate population information.
Under the proposal, undocumented immigrants and some other foreign nationals would be excluded on the grounds that they do not have a sufficiently permanent legal connection to the United States. The administration argues that such individuals should not be regarded as permanent members of the US population.
The proposal would also introduce additional measures to verify the citizenship and immigration information provided by respondents. Although providing false information on the census is already a federal offence, the administration wants the Census Bureau to compare responses with records held by other government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Treasury Department. Questions about immigration status could also be added to the shorter census questionnaire.
This is not the first time Trump has attempted to introduce a citizenship question into the census. During his first presidency, his administration sought to include one in the 2020 census. The US Supreme Court rejected that effort in 2019, concluding that the administration’s explanation for the question appeared to be “contrived.”
Critics argue that collecting citizenship and immigration information could discourage immigrants and other vulnerable groups from taking part in the census. They are concerned that lower participation could produce an inaccurate picture of the US population and potentially affect communities’ access to government funding and political representation.
Census data has a major financial impact beyond determining congressional seats. According to the Census Bureau, the information was used to distribute more than $2.8 trillion in federal funding during the 2021 fiscal year.
William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, described the proposal as more than an administrative change. He argued that it could reflect a broader attempt by the Trump administration to redefine who is considered part of the American population.
Frey also warned that the proposal could discourage certain groups from participating in government programmes, even if the proposed changes are ultimately not implemented.
The controversy comes as the Trump administration pursues other measures that could influence political representation, including congressional redistricting and restrictions on mail-in voting. The Justice Department has also warned that states could potentially lose billions of dollars in welfare funding if they fail to provide information about immigrants known to be living in the country without legal documentation.
The US Census Bureau had not responded to requests for comment at the time of the report.