WASHINGTON (AURN News) — The Legal Defense Fund, the NAACP and American Oversight have launched an investigation into a Trump administration proposal to remove race and ethnicity questions from the census.
The groups filed public records requests to learn who shaped the proposal, including whether White House officials or the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute played a role.
The Census Bureau proposed two changes on Sept. 10. One would remove questions about race and ethnicity. The census has collected information about race since 1790.
The other would exclude noncitizens without green cards, including refugees and temporary visa holders, from the population count used to allocate seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The census, conducted every 10 years, is the only source of comprehensive neighborhood-level data on race. Without that data, civil rights groups warn, it would be harder to prove discrimination or draw fair voting districts.
