Trump To Abandon Citizenship Question On Census, Will Seek Info By Other Means

Donald Trump

CNN reports that Donald Trump will back down from his push to have a question regarding citizenship on the 2020 census.

Instead, he'll issue an executive order asking the Commerce Department to obtain the citizenship info he wants through other means.

These people said Trump is expected to table his effort to add a question about citizenship status to the 2020 census, setting aside his demands last week to continue pursuing the issue despite a Supreme Court order blocking it.

Trump tweeted Thursday morning he would be holding a press conference in the Rose Garden in the afternoon about "the census and citizenship." Attorney General William Barr will participate in the event, according to Justice Department spokesperson Kelly Laco. The Justice Department declined further comment on the details of the planned announcement.

The Supreme Court late last month blocked a citizenship question from being added to the 2020 census. The bitter controversy centers around whether the administration can ask all recipients a citizenship question on the 2020 census for the first time since 1950 -- a move that could impact the balance of power in states and the House of Representatives, which are based on total population.

The White House will be hosting a very big and very important Social Media Summit today. Would I have become President without Social Media? Yes (probably)! At its conclusion, we will all go to the beautiful Rose Garden for a News Conference on the Census and Citizenship.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 11, 2019

Opponents say adding the citizenship question could discourage undocumented immigrants from answering the questionnaire.

That could, in turn, produce lower population counts. And those counts are used to apportion congressional districts, as well as determine where federal funds are used.

More from the New York Times:

Government experts have predicted that asking the question would cause many immigrants to refuse to participate in the census, leading to an undercount of about 6.5 million people.

That could reduce Democratic representation when congressional districts are allocated in 2021 and affect how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending are distributed.