Trump's Proposed Census Rule Changes Are a Threat to Democracy

With the nation’s focus on the upcoming midterm elections, the Trump administration is quietly proposing changes to rules for the 2030 census that would threaten American democracy for decades to come. If we don’t act now, the next census could erase millions of people from the count.

The last Census in 2020 undercounted Latinos by almost 5%, three times the undercount of the 2010 Census, making this racial-ethnic group second only to American Indians and Alaska Natives in undercount. Latinos are now at even more risk of being undercounted by the next Census. The Trump administration has created fear and mistrust of the government by unleashing Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) terror on our communities and is now scheming to strip us of political power and economic resources.

For the first time in history, Trump's Census Bureau has proposed removing questions on race and ethnicity from the census and excluding noncitizens without a green card from the census count. The proposed rule changes are part of this administration’s racist and anti-immigrant agenda to unravel civil rights protections and erase immigrants from our nation.

Excluding immigrant residents would harm every person in the communities where they reside, including US citizens. States with substantial immigrant populations could receive fewer congressional seats.

Our organization, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, is sounding the alarm on how these changes would harm Latino and immigrant communities. Census undercounts have real world consequences, not only in the loss of congressional representatives, but also in the reduction of lifesaving resources like funding for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) as well as funding for public education and school lunches. More than 300 federal programs allocate resources based on Census data.

The constitution mandates a numerical count of every person living in the United States every 10 years, regardless of immigration status, and requires that congressional seats and federal tax money be apportioned based on the number of people living in each state. The census has included questions on race since it was first initiated in 1790.

Removing questions on race and ethnicity would make it harder to track whether Black and brown communities have equal access to education, housing, and healthcare, and make it more difficult to monitor and address racist exclusion from resources and opportunities.

The proposed rule to exclude noncitizens without a green card would not only exclude undocumented immigrants but also exclude refugees, asylees, and residents with pending immigration applications. LatinoJustice objects to treating such residents as absent from our communities for purposes of representation.

Excluding immigrant residents would harm every person in the communities where they reside, including US citizens. States with substantial immigrant populations could receive fewer congressional seats.

Adding a question on immigration status to the census would further discourage Latinos—regardless of their immigration status—from participating in the count at a time when trust in the government is at an all time low in our communities. ICE terror has made many immigrants afraid to interact with the government in any way—whether to report being the victim of a crime, access medical care, or accept disaster assistance. A census designed to heighten those fears could erase millions from the count.

The Trump administration is proposing another rule change that would cause even more confusion and lead to an undercount of students, snowbirds, and those in non-traditional housing by using tax records to establish residence. All of these proposed changes seem aimed at reducing census participation and undercounting vulnerable communities.

LatinoJustice PRLDEF has worked to promote participation in the census—as imperfect as it is—because we know what a huge impact the count has on our communities. We submitted commentary opposing the dangerous rule changes proposed by the Trump administration. It’s not too late for you to submit your objections, too. But you need to act now.

The open comment period on the proposed census rule changes ends on November 2. We’re calling for the comment period to be extended at least another 90 days so that advocates and experts have the opportunity to weigh in, but we don’t know if the extension will be granted.

Latinos’ enormous contributions to our economy and society make America what it is. Each and every one of us deserves to be counted.