Trump Executive Action on the Census, Explained

President Trump has a history of trying to change census rules to skip counting noncitizens living in the U.S.

One of the high-profile priorities of the first Trump administration was adding a question about citizenship status (“citizenship question”) to the decennial census. The then-Trump administration claimed collecting such data was necessary for effective enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark law meant to prevent racial discrimination in voting. Civil rights groups challenged this dubious claim in court, and the legal proceedings brought to light the true motivation behind the desire to collect citizenship data: The administration believed using the citizen voting-age population when drawing new political maps — instead of the total population, as has always been the case — would be “advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.” This twofold attack on anyone under 18 and all noncitizens would have resulted in a severe undercounting and underrepresentation of people and communities.

In 2019, the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census. However, the administration did not stop trying to rig the process to benefit Republicans and white people; shortly after its defeat at the Supreme Court, President Trump doubled down, issuing Executive Order 13880, Collecting Information About Citizenship Status in Connection with the Decennial Census. Under that order, the Census Bureau began compiling block-level citizenship data that states could use to exclude noncitizens from the political map-drawing process that determines the balance of power in state legislatures and Congress for the next decade.

After President Biden took office in January 2021and issued Executive Order 13986, Ensuring a Lawful and Accurate Enumeration and Apportionment Pursuant to the Decennial Census, the Census Bureau abandoned that effort. The intent of that order was to depoliticize the census and ensure consistency with the U.S. Constitution so that all people living in the United States are counted. With his second-term, day-one recission order, President Trump abandoned this constitutional mandate and commitment to counting all people.

An accurate count during the decennial census is essential for the wellbeing of our communities.

The once-per-decade count of all people in the United States is used to “apportion,” or allocate, congressional representation and federal funding among the states. At the most basic level, the goal is twofold. First, larger states should have more representatives in Congress, in line with the foundational democratic principle of one person, one vote. Second, more populous places require and should be allocated more resources in order to meet community needs.

Every member of the U.S. House of Representatives represents roughly the same number of people (this decade, about 761,000). As a result, states with enormous populations have more members of Congress than small states. For example, the two most populous states — California and Texas — have 52 and 38 representatives, respectively, while the least populous states of Alaska, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming each have one. This allocation of representation helps ensure all residents of the United States have someone in Congress who must answer to them, even if they live in a state with millions of other people. The decennial census is what makes this distribution of relatively equal representation possible.

Furthermore, every year federal funding is distributed to communities based, in part, on their size. In the fiscal year after the 2020 census, roughly 350 federal assistance programs distributed more than $2.8 trillion in federal funds to state, local, and tribal governments, households and individuals. These funds support everything from Medicare and Medicaid to nutrition assistance for babies, meals for children in school, Head Start and educational grants, to the construction of roads and bridges and rental and homeowner assistance, among dozens of other programs. Fully counting all people in a place ensures that communities have access to the resources they need to provide for the most basic needs of their residents and thrive.

Collecting data related to citizenship status is unconstitutional and would undermine the validity of the census.

The Constitution requires the counting of all people living in the United States — regardless of their immigration status. Adding a citizenship question on the census form would make this impossible, as the presence of such a question would intimidate some individuals who would be afraid to fill out the form. This underlying concern of exposure and vulnerability is further elevated due to President Trump’s dangerous rhetoric and myriad actions explicitly targeting immigrant communities. People without legal status, or with legal status short of citizenship, are most likely to fear consequences of fully responding to the census; mixed-status households and communities would also likely see a drop in participation due to the fear of being targeted. This, in turn, would lead to an “undercount,” or a count that doesn’t include all people living in the United States.

When communities are undercounted, they don’t get the resources they need.

If the census itself is not accurate, then representation in Congress and subsequent outlays of federal funding cannot be accurate either. If some people, or worse, entire communities are not counted through the decennial census, those communities and states will suffer for the following decade, both by having fewer people in Congress who are accountable to them and by getting fewer resources for health, education, infrastructure, housing and more. Further, the census count informs not just congressional maps but also maps for state and local government bodies as well as funding from states to localities. It is crucial to recognize the harmful, cascading impact of an undercount: a deprivation of representation and resources at every level of government.

The Constitution calls for political maps and funding outlays to be based on the full population, not just the citizen population.

Section 2 of the 14th Amendment reads: “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State.”Put plainly, this means that how much representation a community enjoys in local and state legislatures and in Congress must be based on the total number of people in that community — people cannot be excluded because of their race, because they are not U.S. citizens, are under 18 years old (the current legal voting age for federal elections), or for any other reason.

The fact that the Constitution refers to citizenship and age as qualifiers in other sections of our country’s foundational document makes clear the drafters’ use of “persons” in this context really does mean all people. Debate surrounding the drafting of the 14th Amendment further supports this interpretation. Furthermore, courts throughout our country’s history have repeatedly interpreted the language to mean all people, including noncitizens.

A deeply held principle of American democracy is that power is derived from the people. In fact, the word democracy come from the Greek words “demos,” which means people, and “kratia,” which means power. Excluding any people from the all-important decennial census, whether based on citizenship status, race, age, or some other characteristic, is unlawful, deeply undemocratic and un-American. Disregard for the U.S. Constitution is a theme for this president, who has issued dozens of executive orders that are being challenged in court as unconstitutional and who regularly muses on the possibility of a third term.

There is a clear pattern and agenda. President Trump attempted to manipulate the census during his first administration, even after his attempts were rejected by the Supreme Court. There is good reason to expect the current administration will try again to subvert the census requirements, and that those efforts will focus on and disproportionately impact communities with larger populations of noncitizens.

To resist this exclusionary, manipulative agenda, look out for what President Trump says next about the 2030 census. If the Census Bureau announces plans to change the census form, including by adding a citizenship question, there may be a public comment period through which you can lodge concern. You can also lift your voice in opposition through op-eds, letters to the editor or other public forums, and you can contact your member of Congress and urge them to push back.

The SPLC is using every tool at our disposal to ensure all people in the United States are counted, consistent with the mandate of the U.S. Constitution. As part of our commitment to standing up for an America where everyone has the representation and access to the resources they need to thrive, we will monitor developments related to the census and share updates, along with opportunities to engage. We hope you’ll join us.