Trump Pushes Census Changes That Could Exclude Millions Of Immigrants
Proposed census changes could alter how immigrants are counted.
The Trump administration is proposing major changes to how the United States conducts its once-a-decade census, including excluding undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers and some other people without permanent status from the population count used to allocate political representation. The proposed overhaul could also remove questions on race, ethnicity and LGBTQ+ identity, potentially affecting the data used by governments, researchers and community organisations.
The US Census Bureau argued in a Federal Register post that undocumented immigrants and certain others should not be included in the apportionment count because they are not considered “true inhabitants” or people with sufficient ties and allegiance to the United States. The proposal echoes President Donald Trump’s earlier push to include a citizenship question in the 2030 census, an idea that has previously drawn significant political and legal debate.
Census figures are used to determine how many seats each state receives in the US House of Representatives, as well as the number of Electoral College votes. Data researchers have warned that excluding people based on immigration status could lead to undercounts and affect political representation. Beth Jarosz of the Association of Public Data Users described the proposals as “unprecedented” and said inaccurate population figures could dilute the political power of communities.
Also Read: Ashok Gehlot Raises Concerns Over Caste Census Process, Seeks Correction
Researchers and public officials also rely on census data when planning public services and responding to public health emergencies and natural or human-made disasters. Jarosz said that without an accurate count of everyone living in an area, governments could lack the information needed to allocate resources effectively. She noted that the decennial census has historically focused on counting residents rather than conducting a comprehensive count based on citizenship status.
The potential removal of race and ethnicity questions has also raised concerns among researchers and advocacy groups. Race-related questions have been part of the census since 1790, while people have been able to identify as more than one race since 2000. Census data recorded 33.8 million people identifying as multiracial in 2020, while researchers use demographic information to study issues including discrimination, crime and differences in wealth and access to services.
Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance, said the proposed changes could have a significant impact on communities that depend on census data. She argued that removing demographic information and excluding certain immigrants could make it harder for lawmakers, healthcare providers, public safety officials and community organisations to understand the populations they serve. Researchers say the proposed changes could therefore affect the quality and usefulness of data collected for the 2030 Census.
Also Read: White House Shares AI Video Showing Trump As Green Lantern
