This archive report was first published on 12 July 2019.
Published on July 12, 2019, President Donald Trump announced that he would no longer pursue adding a question on citizenship to the 2020 US census questionnaire.
Instead, he stated that officials would obtain the information through an executive order for government agencies, as court challenges would have delayed a census.
The decision comes after a long fight over the inclusion of the question, which the Supreme Court blocked in June.
Mr. Trump argued that the question would bolster protections for minority voters, but critics called it politically motivated and said it would lead to fewer immigrant households taking part.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump said, “We are not backing down on our effort to determine the citizenship status of the United States population.”
He added, “We will leave no stone unturned.”
Mr. Trump's executive order will require government agencies to hand over documents regarding citizenship, with the aim of ensuring an accurate count of citizens, non-citizens, and illegal aliens in the United States.
However, Kristen Clarke, president of the National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, expressed concerns about Mr. Trump's plans, stating, “This is essentially an attempt to compile data on a mass scale in a way that is unprecedented.”
