BREAKING: Census Bureau signals it's reevaluating the need to continue a Trump admin project that uses gov't records to produce block-level citizenship data, which could benefit Republicans during redistricting. Bureau says it'll ask DOJ if existing data meet "statistical needs"
2. Census Bureau also confirms in this statement that it's "implementing" President Biden's Jan. 20 executive order that requires all person living in U.S., regardless of immigration status, to be included in census numbers used to reapportion House seats: census.gov/newsroom/press…
3. The Census Bureau has now officially confirmed my scoop for @NPR that all work on producing a count of unauthorized immigrants, as requested by now-former President Donald Trump, was suspended on Jan. 12: npr.org/2021/01/13/956…
@NPR 4. Bureau's new statement says 2020 census data products "will not include information on citizenship or immigration status."
But this webpage, last updated Oct. 30, still says the bureau will produce block-level citizenship data after the 2020 census: census.gov/programs-surve…
@NPR 5. Earlier today I checked in with the Justice Department about its citizenship-data needs:
One year ago today, members of the Nunakauyarmiut Tribe in Toksook Bay, Alaska became the first people counted for the 2020 census npr.org/sections/pictu…
2. Since 1960, counting for the U.S. census has started in the most remote parts of the state in January, ahead of the rest of the country. That's when the ground is still frozen, making it easier for door knockers to reach far-flung communities npr.org/2019/01/21/686…
3. Last year, in addition to COVID-19, warming temperatures and thawing permafrost made it harder to get an accurate count for the 2020 census in some of Alaska's most remote communities npr.org/2020/02/10/802…
NEW: President Biden's census executive order revokes Trump's apportionment memo *and* Trump's executive order on collecting citizenship records — but it does not address Trump admin directives for the Census Bureau to produce block-level citizenship data npr.org/sections/inaug…
2. ICYMI, the Trump admin directed the Census Bureau to use gov't records to produce block-level citizenship data that GOP strategist Thomas Hofeller concluded "would be advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites" when redrawing voting districts npr.org/2020/05/20/855…
3. The executive order Biden signed today does not end that citizenship data project, but it does rescind Trump's July 2019 executive order that directed federal agencies to share records with the Census Bureau. It's not clear what will happen to the records the bureau's compiled
NEW: One of Biden’s first executive orders will revoke the Trump administration’s policy of excluding unauthorized immigrants from a key census count that, according to the Constitution, must include the “whole number of persons in each state.” From the Biden transition team:
2. After being sworn in as the 46th president of the U.S., Biden is expected to sign this executive order about the census apportionment counts at around 5:15 p.m. ET, after which the actual text of the order is set to be released.
3. “President-elect Biden will ensure that the Census Bureau has time to complete an accurate population count for each state,” the Biden transition team’s fact sheet says.
This, however, will also require Congress to pass a new law that extends legal reporting deadlines.
I was surprised to see the Pew Research Center & Yale researchers mentioned in the outgoing Trump-appointed Census Bureau director's latest blog post on the noncitizen data request that got called off after whistleblower complaints, so I did some digging.. census.gov/newsroom/blogs…
2. In case you need more background, Steven Dillingham tried to pressure career civil servants at the bureau to produce a data report with state-by-state figures of noncitizens that one whistleblower said would have been "statistically indefensible": npr.org/2021/01/18/957…
3. Dillingham's blog post is correct that the Pew Research Center produces unauthorized immigrant estimates. That research is led by a demographer who used to work at the bureau. Here's more on Jeffrey Passel: pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019…
Today is Steven Dillingham’s last full day as Census Bureau director.
Dillingham’s departure at noon ET tomorrow clears the entire slate of Trump appointees at the bureau, where Ron Jarmin, the career deputy director, will serve again as acting director. npr.org/2021/01/18/957…
2. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for Dillingham to answer my thread of questions about the state-by-state figures of noncitizens that he tried to rush out before Census Bureau whistleblowers complained to the @CommerceOIG:
@CommerceOIG 3. It's not clear exactly when they're out, but I've confirmed all 3 of the newest, controversial Trump appointees at the Census Bureau will have resigned by tomorrow too. My earlier reporting on Nathaniel Cogley, Earl "Trey" Mayfield & Benjamin Overholt: npr.org/2020/09/30/916…
BREAKING: Trump's Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham is stepping down on Jan. 20, months before the end of his term, after whistleblowers complained he was pushing for "statistically indefensible" data.
@Tierney_Megan 3. Dillingham says in a blog post on Census Bureau's website that an unnamed Biden transition official asked him to continue serving as director "during & after the transition." Request's timing is not clear. I've reached out to the Biden team for comment. census.gov/newsroom/blogs…