Trump's plan to weaponize the census against immigrants has failed

Source: Vox

Census officials are no longer proceeding with President Donald Trump’s plan to exclude undocumented immigrants living in the US from census population counts for purposes of redrawing congressional districts in 2021, according to an NPR report. The news outlet reported that senior career officials at the Census Bureau had ordered the work to stop immediately on Tuesday night.

The move brings an apparent end to Trump’s controversial attempt to erode the political power of immigrant communities. Excluding undocumented immigrants would have reduced the population counts in areas where foreign-born populations have traditionally settled — primarily Democrat-run cities — and therefore undermined their political power. But it could have also affected red states with large immigrant populations, including Texas.

States currently draw congressional districts, determining the areas that each elected official represents based on the total population, including unauthorized immigrants. The current maps are due to be redrawn this year after the results of the 2020 census come in, and the stakes are high: Each redistricting has a lasting influence on who is likely to win elections, which communities will be represented in Congress, and, ultimately, which laws will be passed. If states can’t complete their redistricting efforts ahead of upcoming elections, including the midterms in 2022, courts can intervene and draw temporary maps.

Trump issued a memorandum last July arguing that, by law, the president has the final say over who must be counted in the census. And Trump has said that unauthorized immigrants should not be counted because it would undermine American representative democracy and create “perverse incentives” for those seeking to come to the US.



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