Census director to resign; Trump loses attempt to affect congressional representation by not counting undocumented Americans

Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM)

UPDATE: (Jan. 18, 3 p.m. ET) Census Director Steve Dillingham will be stepping down on Jan. 20, cutting short by nearly a year the five-year director term, which was scheduled to expire on Dec. 31.

Dillingham's resignation was revealed Monday (Jan. 18) by the Talking Points Memo based on the Census Bureau's internal emails.

Earlier, Views From the Edge reported:

In the waning days of the Donald Trump administration, courts and government bureaucrats are seeking ways to repair the damage he has wrought the last four years.

A federal court has placed a 21-day stay Friday on Trump's executive order for the U.S. Census exclude undocumented immigrants in its data, thus preventing Trump from fiddling with the data.

Trump's attempt to use the altered Census to affect the apportionment of  congressional seats is officially dead.

“Neither the Census Bureau nor the Department of Commerce will report or publicly disclose any population counts or estimates relating to the population as of April 1, 2020, including counts or estimates of the illegal alien/undocumented immigrant population, prior to the change of Administration on January 20, 2021,” the Census Bureau said in a statement.

An official Order by the Court in the National Urban League case was issued in which the Department of Commerce and U.S. Census Bureau are defendants.  

The Order enters a Stipulation for a 21-day stay in the case, and all necessary and appropriate steps must be taken to ensure compliance with the Court’s Stipulation and Order.  Accordingly, all Census Bureau staff are hereby instructed to read the order and ensure compliance with the following:

1. Reports, estimates, or data relating to the July 21, 2020, Presidential Memorandum on Excluding Illegal Aliens from the Apportionment Base following the 2020 Census will not be finalized, reported or publicly disclosed prior to the change of Administration on January 20, 2021. Should such information be finalized after the change of Administration but prior to the end of the proposed stay, Defendants would provide Plaintiffs with 7 days’ detailed notice prior to reporting or publicly disclosing it.
2. Reports, estimates, or data relating to Executive Order 13880, entitled “Collecting Information About Citizenship Status in Connection with the Decennial Census” (July 11, 2019), will not be finalized, reported or publicly disclosed prior to the change of Administration on January 20, 2021. Should such information be finalized after the change of Administration but prior to the end of the stay, Defendants would provide Plaintiffs with 7 days’ detailed notice prior to reporting or publicly disclosing it.
3. Neither the Census Bureau nor the Department of Commerce will report or publicly disclose any population counts or estimates relating to the population as of April 1, 2020, including counts or estimates of the illegal alien/undocumented immigrant population, prior to the change of Administration on January 20, 2021. To the extent such population counts or estimates are developed after the change of Administration but prior to the end of the stay, Defendants would provide Plaintiffs with 7 days’ detailed notice prior to reporting or publicly disclosing them.

If Trump had succeeded in his attempt to affect the final Census data, it could have resulted in an undercount and  shortchange representation for cities and states, such as California, New York, Florida and Texas, that have heavy immigrant populations.  Such an undercount could have reduced services and federal funds directed at those cities and states to help its immigrant populations.

Last week, a whistleblower reported that the Census Director had been pressuring staff to gather up the numbers of immigrants and undocumented Americans so he could submit the report to Trump before his Jan. 20 departure from office. That effort was halted when the Inspector General asked for the asked for documentation of Dillingham's order.

“The Trump Administration's attacks on the Census have always been attacks on communities of color," said Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. 

"The obsession with singling out undocumented immigrants for the purpose of exclusion – something that is clearly contrary to the intent of the Constitution – is just another attempt to distort the Census to shift power and resources away from diverse states like California."

EDITOR'S NOTE; A word of caution. This is news laced with opinion. Readers should consult several news sources to form their own opinion.