ACLU Comment on Trump Administration Reportedly Ending Efforts to Exclude Undocumented Immigrants From Census Count

NEW YORK — The Census Bureau has reportedly stopped efforts to produce a count of undocumented immigrants — essentially ending President Trump’s bid to illegally exclude undocumented immigrants from the census count used to apportion seats in the House of Representatives and votes in the Electoral College.

The American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the administration’s efforts to weaponize the census against immigrants.

Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, argued a challenge to the Trump administration's policy before the U.S. Supreme Court last year, and had the following reaction to today’s developments:

“President Trump tried and failed throughout his entire presidency to weaponize the census for his attacks on immigrant communities. It appears he has failed yet again. We now call upon President-elect Biden to formally rescind this unconstitutional policy after inauguration. Doing so would send the message that under our Constitution, everyone in this country counts.”