Trump administration proposes citizenship question in test for 2030 census
Source: WNYW-TV New York, NY
February 6, 2026 12:29pm EST
A field test for the 2030 Census may contain a question about citizenship under a proposed action by the Trump administration.
The field test was created to give the Census Bureau the opportunity to gain experience in how to improve calculations of populations that were undercounted in the 2020 census, while enhancing practices that will be implemented in the 2030 form. In August 2025, President Donald Trump directed the Commerce Department to have the Census Bureau begin work on a new census that would eliminate immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally from the population data.
Census citizenship test question
Why you should care: One of the questions listed on the American Community Survey asks, "Is this person a citizen of the United States?" The Associated Press reported that questions for the census aren’t supposed to ask about citizenship, and they haven’t for decades. But the 14th Amendment states that "the whole number of persons in each state" should be counted for the numbers used to measure congressional seats, and Electoral College votes among the states, which is inferred to mean anyone living in the U.S., regardless of legal status.
The practice test for the 2030 census will be held at households in Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina, and is using questions from the American Community Survey, a detailed survey of American life, instead of questions from recent census forms.
Read more: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/trump-administration-citizenship-question-census
RELATED - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143610532
July 3, 2019 | by Lyle Denniston
In a decision that seems sure to have a significant impact on American politics over the coming decade, the Trump Administration decided on Tuesday to carry out the 2020 census without asking everyone in the nation about their citizenship. The question, if asked, was likely to reduce the political power of larger states in future elections for the presidency and the House of Representatives.
The decision came five days after a divided Supreme Court rejected the Administration’s primary reason behind the plan to ask the question. The end of that plan closed a political and constitutional controversy that began unfolding soon after President Trump entered office two and a half years ago.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross, who supervises the census and was the main official behind the now-abandoned plan, said in a statement Tuesday: “I respect the Supreme Court but strongly disagree with its ruling regarding my decision to reinstate a citizenship question on the 2020 census. The Census Bureau has started the process of printing the decennial questionnaire without the question. My focus, and that of the Bureau and the entire Department is to conduct an accurate census.”
A Justice Department lawyer also notified other attorneys in a pending court case on the controversy about the decision. All that appeared to remain of the legal fight was for the federal courts involved to close all or at least most of the lawsuits targeting the citizenship inquiry. The Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 ruling last Thursday had not barred the government from asking the question, but did order it to reconsider the plan after concluding that the reason given for it was “contrived” and “pretextual.”
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SCOTUS RULING (PDF) - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18-966_bq7c.pdf
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