Trump abandons effort to add citizenship question to 2020 census

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

President Trump and Attorney General William Barr on Thursday announced that the White House would no longer pursue the effort to have a citizenship question added to the 2020 census, instead instructing the Commerce Department to seek the information through other means.

"We are not backing down," said Trump, who had promised to continue the fight to have the question added and was reportedly weighing a potential executive order. Trump emphasized his belief that the information is of monumental importance, saying, "We must have a reliable count of how many citizens, non-citizens and illegal aliens are in our country," and accusing Democrats of working to "conceal the number of illegal aliens in our midst," per Bloomberg. Critics argued the question would depress representation and funding appropriation in urban areas.

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Summer Meza, The Week US

Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.