Docs: Trump Tried to Use Census Citizenship for Political Gain

Facts

• The US House oversight committee on Wed. released documents showing that former Pres. Trump tried to add a citizenship question to the census to allegedly affect the assignment of congressional seats and the electoral college.¹
• The documents, gathered from internal communications and memos between political appointees at the Commerce and Justice depts., stem from a multi-year committee investigation previously delayed by the Trump admin.²
• Former Trump Commerce Sec., Wilbur Ross, reportedly pushed to add the question despite knowing its potential illegality, with commerce officials leaving out key details in a 2017 draft memo.³
• Ross had argued that adding the question would help the DOJ enforce the Voting Rights Act, with opponents saying it would deter immigrants from voting. The Supreme Court later ruled the question unconstitutional.⁴
• The census, which is used to allocate federal funds, has excluded the citizenship question since 1950. The US is also home to 22M immigrants.²

Sources: ¹NPR Online News, ²New York Times, ³The Hill and ⁴New York Daily News.

Narratives

• Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by The Heritage Foundation. The Trump admin. never violated any laws in seeking to add the citizenship question to the census. Even the SCOTUS ruling said Congress had the constitutional power to ask for such information and only disagreed with the Voting Rights Act piece. The government needs to know who is a citizen because that's who elected officials are tasked with protecting first and foremost.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by New Yorker. The congressional committee and the Supreme Court have pushed back the Trump admin's brazen actions for good reason. Adding a citizenship question to the census clearly discriminates against minorities and foreign-born residents - groups that Republicans wish to attack because they overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.