Putri Anggraini
The administration of President Donald Donald Trump has put forward a sweeping proposal to overhaul the United States census by excluding several categories of noncitizens from the decennial population count.
Under the draft framework unveiled by the Department of Commerce, the decennial enumeration would be restricted solely to United States citizens and lawful permanent residents. Other noncitizens living within the country, including undocumented immigrants and individuals residing under temporary legal status, would no longer be tallied in the official count.
Federal officials defended the planned exclusion by asserting that noncitizens who lack durable legal standing do not qualify as "true inhabitants" of the country. The document argued that these individuals lack a sufficient "tie and allegiance" to the nation, justifying their removal from the baseline census numbers.
If enacted, the policy would break sharply from more than two centuries of established American precedent. Since the passage of the 1790 Census Act, federal enumerators have been legally directed to count every individual whose "usual place of abode" is within the United States, irrespective of their legal residency or citizenship status.
In addition to shifting who is counted, the Commerce Department’s proposal recommends eliminating specific inquiries related to race and ethnicity from the census questionnaire. The administration expressed skepticism over these metrics, pointing to doubts regarding the significance, meaning, and ongoing usefulness of gathering such demographic categories.
The proposal argues that scaling back the questionnaire would minimize the burden placed on households, thereby encouraging higher overall completion rates. Administration officials maintained that a simplified process would help the Census Bureau obtain more direct responses and improve record-matching efforts, which they claimed would promote fairer political representation.
To enforce the proposed standards on immigration status, the plan calls for incorporating questions regarding legal status directly onto the short-form questionnaire. It also outlines an administrative mechanism to verify respondents' declared citizenship against other federal databases.
While providing false information on a census questionnaire is already a federal crime, the administration proposes cross-referencing individual survey replies with records maintained by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of the Treasury, which houses the federal tax collection system.
The newly released plan represents a revived effort by the Trump administration to reshape the decennial questionnaire. During the president's first term in office, an attempt to introduce a citizenship inquiry into the 2020 census was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019, with the high court ruling that the administration’s stated justification was "contrived."
The stakes surrounding the decennial census are extraordinarily high, as the official population tally serves as the constitutional foundation for apportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Altering the population base could dramatically shift political power and representation among the states.
This census initiative forms part of a wider series of administration measures capable of altering national electoral dynamics. These efforts have coincided with legal and political battles surrounding congressional redistricting maps and initiatives aimed at placing tighter restrictions on mail-in voting.
Beyond the distribution of legislative seats, decennial census data serves as the foundation for allocating vast sums of federal funding. Figures published by the Census Bureau reveal that population data was utilized to distribute more than $2.8 trillion in federal assistance during the 2021 fiscal year alone.
Critics and immigrant advocacy groups have raised severe concerns that inserting immigration inquiries will suppress response rates, leaving vital communities undercounted and depriving local jurisdictions of federal assistance. Opponents also worry that the resulting data could be leveraged to advance the president's promised mass deportation initiative, which he has described as the largest operation in American history.
Pressure on immigrant populations has mounted alongside other recent executive moves. On September 2, the Department of Justice issued a warning indicating that states could risk losing billions of dollars in federal welfare funds if local agencies fail to turn over information regarding undocumented immigrants.
Demographic experts have warned that the proposal threatens the fundamental integrity and inclusivity of the national count. William Frey, a demographer affiliated with the Brookings Institution, stated that the policy represents an attempt by the administration to fundamentally redefine who is recognized as an American.
Frey emphasized that the proposal could exert a chilling effect across vulnerable communities regardless of whether it survives expected legal challenges. He noted that even if the proposed changes are ultimately blocked, the rhetoric and regulatory maneuvering alone risk intimidating residents and discouraging broad public participation. The U.S. Census Bureau did not respond to requests for comment regarding the proposal.
Comments (0)