Trump aimed to erode immigrant representation with census citizenship question, documents show
GuardianDec 27, 2022
Docs: Trump Tried to Use Census Citizenship for Political Gain
Image copyright: Getty Images [via The Hill]
The Facts
The US House oversight committee on Wed. released documents showing that former Pres. Trump tried to add a citizenship question to the census to allegedly affect the assignment of congressional seats and the electoral college.
The documents, gathered from internal communications and memos between political appointees at the Commerce and Justice depts., stem from a multi-year committee investigation previously delayed by the Trump admin.
The Spin
Pro-Trump narrative
The Trump admin. never violated any laws in seeking to add the citizenship question to the census. Even the SCOTUS ruling said Congress had the constitutional power to ask for such information and only disagreed with the Voting Rights Act piece. The government needs to know who is a citizen because that's who elected officials are tasked with protecting first and foremost.
Democratic narrative
The congressional committee and the Supreme Court have pushed back the Trump admin's brazen actions for good reason. Adding a citizenship question to the census clearly discriminates against minorities and foreign-born residents - groups that Republicans wish to attack because they overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.