Commentary: The census is a count, not a loyalty test

On Nov. 2 the U.S. Census Bureau will close the public comment period on a proposed Trump Administration regulation to redefine who counts in America. It is his latest effort to erase immigrants from their collective participation in the American experiment. The proposed changes are several-fold: they would not only remove undocumented immigrants from the census count, but also immigrants who are in the United States legally, but have yet to receive their green cards or citizenship. They would bar questions about race, ethnicity and gender identity. Trump’s proposed actions reflect a fundamental disregard for the role the decennial census plays in our democracy.

The Enumeration Clause — Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution — was to serve as the objective mathematical engine for political power and taxation. It mandated that an “actual Enumeration” of the population take place within three years of the first meeting of Congress and every ten years thereafter. It was intended to resolve power-sharing among the states in the House of Representatives, every state being guaranteed at least one seat regardless of its size, but proportionally rewarding additional seats based on actual counts. Because the census would both determine the number of delegates and each state’s share of federal taxes, there was a premium on accuracy — no state wanted to pay more to the federal government than required.

Requiring a decennial census guaranteed that shifts in population could be accounted for over time. Following the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment set the norm that has prevailed until Trump’s arrival on the scene by requiring counting of the “whole number of persons in each State,” thus establishing the constitutional precedent that everyone physically living in a community counts toward its representation, regardless of citizenship.

Late in his first term, Trump issued a presidential memorandum to exclude undocumented immigrants from the population totals used for congressional apportionment. Federal courts in New York, California and Maryland all enjoined the order, finding that he had exceeded his authority since federal law requires the Secretary of Commerce to tabulate the “total population.”  They noted that undocumented immigrants qualify as “persons” and that physical “usual residence,”  that is, where a person sleeps and eats most of the time, must be counted regardless of legal status. And they observed that since the founding of the Republic, the government has systematically counted all residents—non-citizens, temporary inhabitants and undocumented individuals. The Supreme Court vacated the New York order, concluding it was not yet “ripe” for decision.  Trump’s term came to an end before he could pursue the matter further and President Biden revoked the Trump memorandum on his first day in office. Now Trump not only renews his previously failed attack on who to exclude, but actually expands its reach to bar any foreigner who is not a permanent resident or a citizen.  

His proposal to eliminate collection of data regarding race, ethnicity and gender identity is equally misguided. Today, census data directly governs the annual distribution of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding for healthcare, infrastructure, schools and public safety.  The change would have major implications for civil rights enforcement, particularly regarding fair housing and voting rights. The data being collected is essential for state and local governments, non-profits and businesses to make critical decisions about how resources should be allocated, where services are needed, and where to make investments.

Alaska’s Foraker Group has observed that in FY2020, $8.26 billion flowed into Alaska as a result of census data—more than 11 times the economic impact of the 2025 Permanent Fund Dividend. It notes that by removing questions about race and ethnicity, the census eliminates important demographic data about Alaskans, data that aids in securing federal resources.  “Without this information, it will be harder for communities to identify and redress longstanding disparities or to serve underserved communities, or appropriately distribute federal funding across the country—including Alaska,” the report states.

Unfortunately, this Trump initiative, like a similar failed one in the 2020 census to include a question about citizenship, may have the effect of discouraging immigrants, including immigrant citizens, from cooperating with census takers for fear that the information will be used for enforcement purposes despite federal law that expressly prohibits the bureau from sharing individually identifiable information with any other agency.

Alaskans have until Nov. 2 to tell the Census Bureau what they think about this proposal. Our neighbors do not disappear when Washington D.C. refuses to count them. Neither do their children’s classrooms, their need for health care or their contributions to our communities. The census should measure the country we are—not manufacture the country a President wishes to see.