Trump Drops Plan to Add Citizen Question to Census

The Trump administration has ditched its bid to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, after the Supreme Court blocked the plan last week.

The administration had previously pushed to reintroduce the citizenship question for the first time since 1950; and earlier this year, President Trump lobbied the Supreme Court to uphold the plan, tweeting: 'The American people deserve to know who is in this country'. Critics, including non-profit trade body the Insights Association, argued that adding the question, without appropriate testing, would deter responses from immigrants, both legal and illegal, and could result in minorities being undercounted.

Last week, the Supreme Court rejected the plan, describing the reason given for its inclusion as 'contrived'. In response, Trump tweeted that he has asked lawyers whether it would be possible to delay the Census, but yesterday, the Department of Commerce announced that it had officially abandoned its plans to add the question. The administration has now confirmed it will print the 2020 Census without inclusion of the citizenship question, despite Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the census, saying that he 'strongly disagrees' with the Supreme Court's ruling.

Howard Fienberg, VP Advocacy for the Insights Association, comments: 'This is another win for accurate census data, and the marketing research and data analytics industry that relies upon it. No statistically representative research studies can be conducted in the US without the most accurate decennial census data underpinning it. While plenty of challenges still lie ahead, the dropping of the citizenship question will certainly improve the chances of a successful 2020 Census.'

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.