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Certain members of the Republican party in Congress are advocating for the inclusion of a citizenship question on the ten-year census questionnaire, with the aim of excluding non-citizens from the count that influences political representation in the United States.
Recently, the GOP-led House passed a bill that seeks to remove non-citizens from the census tally, which is used to determine the number of House seats and Electoral College votes each state receives. However, this bill is expected to face challenges in the Democratic-controlled Senate, as well as opposition from the White House and legal hurdles, given that the Constitution requires the counting of all individuals during the apportionment process.
The 14th Amendment specifies that congressional seats be distributed among states based on the total number of individuals in each state. Census data not only impacts congressional seats and Electoral College votes but also guides the allocation of $2.8 trillion in federal funds.
Republicans argue that including a citizenship question is reasonable, with Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio questioning, "We ask all kinds of questions on the census anyway, so what's wrong with asking, 'Are you a citizen?'"
Efforts to add a citizenship question have previously failed, as the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration from doing so in 2020. Subsequently, the Trump administration sought to ascertain the citizenship status of all U.S. residents through administrative records, aiming to exclude undocumented individuals from the count used for congressional apportionment. President Biden revoked these directives soon after taking office in January 2021.
Critics assert that the citizenship question's origins lie with Republican redistricting expert Tom Hofeller, who suggested using citizen voting-age population instead of the total population to redraw congressional and legislative districts, potentially benefiting Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.
Republican proponents argue that counting undocumented individuals benefits Democrats, with Representative Michael Burgess of Utah stating that including non-citizens in the count "skews representation away from American citizens" and is linked to the Biden administration's "border crisis."
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson emphasized that states and cities violating federal immigration laws and maintaining sanctuary policies should not receive increased congressional representation.
Experts suggest that if former President Trump returns to office, his administration could add a citizenship question more carefully to avoid the procedural errors that led to the Supreme Court's 2019 ruling.
The Biden administration opposes the GOP bill, arguing that it would raise census costs, hinder accurate information collection, and violate the 14th Amendment.
Civil rights groups point to a Census Bureau simulation showing a significant undercount of non-citizens in the 2020 census, suggesting that the Trump administration's push for a citizenship question contributed to this undercount among certain racial and ethnic minorities.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland emphasized during a recent debate, "The Constitution is the Constitution. The rest of this strikes me as election-year rhetoric."