US census 2020: Trump retreats on citizenship question

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President Donald Trump will no longer pursue

adding a question on citizenship to the 2020 US

census questionnaire.

Instead, he said officials would obtain the

information through an executive order for

government agencies, as court challenges would

have delayed a census.

The retreat follows a long fight over the inclusion

of the question, which the Supreme Court blocked

in June.

Critics called the question politically motivated and

said it would lead to fewer immigrant households

taking part.

The administration however had argued the

question would bolster protections for minority

voters.

On Thursday, Mr Trump said: "We are not backing

down on our effort to determine the citizenship

status of the United States population."

"We will leave no stone unturned."

Mr Trump says his executive order will require

government agencies to hand over documents

regarding citizenship.

"As a result of today's executive order we will be

able to ensure the 2020 census generates an

accurate count of how many citizens, non-citizens

and illegal aliens are in the United States of

America," Mr Trump said at the White House.

Kristen Clarke, president of the National Lawyers'

Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told the BBC

she had concerns about Mr Trump's plans.

"This is essentially an attempt to compile data on

a mass scale in a way that is unprecedented," she

said.

"We don't know how long it will take for them to

pull this data together, we don't know what they

will do with that data."

What reason did the Trump administration give?

The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the

citizenship question in June, saying that the

government's reason for including the question

seemed "contrived", and it had not provided

adequate justification for it.

It left open the possibility that the government

could provide new legal arguments for the

question to a lower court - however, this would

have delayed the census.

The government began printing the 2020 census

last week without the question - but Mr Trump then

created confusion when he announced that he

would do "whatever is necessary", including

potentially an executive order, to include the

question in the census.

Legal experts however noted that an executive

order could not override a Supreme Court ruling.

On Thursday, Attorney General William Barr said

the decision to abandon the citizenship question

was a "logistical impediment, not a legal one".

He said there was "ample justification" for the

administration to include the citizenship question.

But referring to court injunctions, he said there was

no way to "implement any new decision without

jeopardizing our ability to carry out the census".

Mr Barr repeatedly congratulated Mr Trump on the

executive order to gather the data separately.

Why is the citizenship question so controversial?

The question - "Is this person a citizen of the

United States?" - has not appeared on a US census

for all Americans since 1950, though it has been

asked to some subsets of the population between

1970 and 2000.

The government said the question would help the

government allocate resources and enforce voter

laws designed to prevent discrimination.

However, Democratic states with large immigrant

populations argue a citizenship question will

produce undercounts because fewer people will

participate if they fear the information could be

used against them.

They argue that states with high non-citizen

populations would lose congressional seats and

funding - even though many non-citizens pay taxes

and use government services.

In a 2018 report, Census Bureau researchers found

that the inclusion of a citizenship question could

suppress response rates in households with

immigrants and minority groups.

The census is mandated under the US constitution

and takes place every 10 years, counting every

resident.

In election year, a question about citizenship on the

2020 census form would have been hugely

polarising.

For Donald Trump, whose stance on illegal

immigration has defined his presidency, it would

have been a major success.

But it is not to be.

The hurdles proved too

cumbersome and the administration acknowledged

that outstanding lawsuits could delay the

completion of the census.

But never one to admit defeat, Mr Trump framed

his plan B as a "far more accurate" way to count

the non-citizen population. Officials, he said, would

"leave no stone unturned", in their quest to dig out

citizenship information from existing data held by

government departments.

That could be seen as an implied threat, but it

means the census is likely to result in a more

accurate count, with those living in the US illegally

less afraid to make their presence known.

Census counts are used to determine the allocation

of seats in the House of Representatives and the

distribution of billions of dollars of funds in federal

spending.

There had been concern that impoverished areas

would lose out if a significant number of residents

chose not to complete the form.

Source: bbc.com

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