{"id":7147,"date":"2026-07-16T01:17:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7147"},"modified":"2026-07-16T01:17:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:17:39","slug":"trump-administration-may-add-immigration-status-question-on-census-to-influence-apportionment-experts-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7147","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration May Add Immigration Status Question on Census to Influence Apportionment, Experts Warn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\">\n<p>President Donald Trump may have learned from his last go at manipulating the decennial census to include a citizenship question: His administration looks poised to try something different in order to target undocumented immigrants during the 2030 count, experts said in a briefing call this week.<\/p>\n<p>Civil rights organizations and census experts pointed to clues that they believe show the Census Bureau will use a trifecta of new or modified survey questions on the 2030 census in an attempt to exclude certain immigrants in order to influence who is counted when the bureau calculates how many congressional seats and electoral votes each state gets.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The administration may again try to add a citizenship question to the census. But experts who spoke on a call organized by a coalition of population statistics and data advocacy organizations believe Trump and his allies are taking a more refined approach than during Trump\u2019s first administration. As a result, Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel at the Mexican American Legal Defense Educational Fund, said he believes the 2030 census will also try to include a question about immigration status, and an amended residency question that would discourage certain immigrant respondents from listing a U.S.-based address.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do think they\u2019ve become more sophisticated,\u201d Saenz said in response to a question from TPM during the Tuesday call. The administration \u201cunderstand[s] they\u2019re not going to accomplish what they want to accomplish without a status question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Census Bureau and the Commerce Department did not respond to TPM requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Last August, <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/114987220997209419\" target=\"_blank\">Trump, via Truth Social,\u00a0 ordered his administration<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/08\/07\/nx-s1-5265650\/new-census-trump-immigrants-counted\" target=\"_blank\">create a \u201cnew\u201d census<\/a> that would exclude undocumented immigrants. His demand included little additional detail.<\/p>\n<p>On June 25, the Commerce Department and Census Bureau <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reginfo.gov\/public\/do\/eoDetails?rrid=1442165\" target=\"_blank\">posted a proposed rule title<\/a> to a government regulatory website: Decennial Census of the Population of Americans; Proposed Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions. Only the title is public for now. At the same time, two ongoing lawsuits filed against the government by states Trump won are challenging the historic practice of including undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents in census enumeration used for congressional apportionment and for drawing state political maps.<\/p>\n<p>By June 26, the government asked for a stay in one of the cases, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/72208701\/state-of-missouri-v-united-states-department-of-commerce\/?filed_after=&amp;filed_before=&amp;entry_gte=&amp;entry_lte=&amp;order_by=desc\" target=\"_blank\"><em>State of Missouri v. The U.S. Department of Commerce<\/em><\/a>, citing the pending release of the government\u2019s new rule and policy proposals.<\/p>\n<p>Census watchers expect the 2030 census to try and use a residency question to designate certain immigrants \u2014 those who are undocumented, who have temporary protected status or TPS, and recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA \u2014 as having foreign primary residences. Rules from the 2020 census state that \u201ccitizens of foreign countries\u201d living in America should be counted \u201cat the U.S. residence where they live and sleep most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we expect to see in the residence criteria put forward is some attempt to reallocate undocumented and temporarily present immigrants as not counting as residents of the United States because their residence, they will assert, is in their country of origin,\u201d said Saenz, whose organization filed a motion to intervene in <em>Missouri<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The census residency question has not been without its share of controversy, Allison Plyer, past chair of the U.S. Census Bureau\u2019s Scientific Advisory Committee, said on Tuesday. People should identify the residence at which they live most often during the year. But, \u201cIncreasingly, we see more complexity in the U.S. and how and where people live,\u201d said Plyer, who is currently chief demographer at the Data Center based in Louisiana. She cited respondents who split time between two states as an example.<\/p>\n<p>Another lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Kansas, Ohio and West Virginia hinges in part on this policy and alleges that the \u201cresidency rule\u201d violated the Fourteenth Amendment. That case, as well as <em>Missouri<\/em>, holds that plaintiff states and individuals were deprived of fair representation because enumerating undocumented immigrants and temporary residents inflated congressional representation for some states and siphoned off representation for the plaintiffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Missouri <\/em>also claims that undocumented immigrants, temporary visa holders, and \u201cforeign adversaries\u201d don\u2019t count as \u201cpersons\u201d as defined by the constitutional requirement for a population count every 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>Immigrants and noncitizens regardless of status have been counted in the census <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/07\/21\/892340508\/with-no-final-say-trump-wants-to-change-who-counts-for-dividing-up-congress-seat\" target=\"_blank\">since the first survey<\/a> was taken in 1790. Merely adding a citizenship question wouldn\u2019t alone identify undocumented immigrants, those with TPS or DACA recipients.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe issue actually goes beyond the citizenship question because in order to distinguish the undocumented, those with TPS with, deferred action, etc., from lawful permanent residence or green card holders,\u201d said Saenz, \u201cthey would actually have to add a status question, which is obviously unprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Without knowing an individual\u2019s immigration status, it\u2019d be impossible to differentiate between a targeted population and a Green Card holder, for example.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Identifying immigrants isn\u2019t Trump and his allies\u2019 only goal, Saenz said. The administration of a census requiring the disclosure of such sensitive data and coming as preparations are already underway would likely sow confusion and discourage participation among some groups.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that the overarching effect,\u201d said Saenz, \u201cand probably one intended by this administration, would be to deter and reduce participation and increase, therefore, the undercount.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2018, census officials found that the inclusion of just a citizenship question <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/muckraker\/top-census-scientist-testifies-that-adding-citizenship-question-was-bad-idea\" target=\"_blank\">increased the nonparticipation rate<\/a> more in households with at least one undocumented person compared to households with none.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n        appId: \"101800829865996\",\n        xfbml: true,\n        version: ' v2.6'\n      });\n      window.fbAsyncInit.__didInit = true;\n    };\n    (function(d, s, id) {\n      var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n      if (d.getElementById(id)) {\n        return;\n      }\n      js = d.createElement(s);\n      js.id = id;\n      js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n      fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n    }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n  <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump may have learned from his last go at manipulating the decennial census to include a citizenship question: His administration looks poised to try something different in order to target undocumented immigrants during the 2030 count, experts said in a briefing call this week. Civil rights organizations and census experts pointed to clues&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2268700589.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}