The Trump administration unveiled a plan to rewrite how the 2030 census is conducted, proposing to exclude undocumented immigrants and to stop asking about race and ethnicity, according to reporting by the Washington Post, KPBS and the Guardian. The proposal would also add a citizenship question and prohibit questions about sexual orientation, the outlets reported.
The Post reported that the draft rule argues for leaving out noncitizens who lack permanent residency from the population counts used to divide up seats in the U.S. House and to steer federal dollars. KPBS added that the administration wants the national head count to no longer collect race and ethnicity data and to bar any question about sexual orientation. The Guardian noted that the Census Bureau says it may lean on administrative records from multiple federal agencies to determine people’s legal status.
The legal stakes are immediate. The 14th Amendment calls for apportioning representation based on the “whole number of persons,” and past censuses have counted people regardless of immigration status, the Guardian and KPBS explained. The Post and the Guardian both pointed out that a previous attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 count was blocked after court challenges.
The administration’s move could reshape political maps and budgets. KPBS reported that changes to who is counted could affect how many House seats and Electoral College votes each state gets and how billions in federal funding are distributed for services such as schools, roads and health care. The Post reported that civil rights and public health groups are warning that dropping race and ethnicity questions could make it harder to find and fix disparities, including how to target federal programs effectively.
Early reactions suggest a likely legal fight. The Post reported that New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued over changes to the 2020 census, said the state is reviewing legal options to challenge the new plan. The Guardian reported that Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said they oppose the changes and argued the Constitution requires counting all people living in the U.S.
There is also a timing wrinkle. KPBS noted the administration is supposed to send Congress a report on proposed 2030 census topics by a spring deadline, and that Congress ultimately has authority over the count. Separate lawsuits filed by some states to limit who is included in census numbers could complicate the picture further, KPBS reported.
Why it matters
Who gets counted helps decide how many seats your state has in the House and how much federal money your community gets. If the rules change, states and neighborhoods could gain or lose political clout and funding for everyday needs like schools and clinics. Dropping race and ethnicity questions could also make it harder for officials to track — and address — discrimination and health disparities, the Post and KPBS reported.