1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

Block the Trump administration's proposed Census Bureau rule before it permanently distorts American democracy. The draft regulation would exclude undocumented immigrants, foreign students, H-1B visa holders, and other noncitizens from the 2030 Census count — shrinking congressional representation in states like California, New York, and Illinois while handing structural political power to red states. It would also eliminate race and ethnicity data collection for the first time since 1790. That second piece is just as dangerous. After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, plaintiffs already have to prove discriminatory intent to challenge racially gerrymandered maps. Without block-level race and ethnicity data from the decennial census, that proof becomes nearly impossible to assemble. As California state demographer Walter Schwarm put it: "If you don't have race and ethnic data on the ground, how can you prove that you're being discriminated against?" This isn't a privacy protection — it's a data blackout designed to make civil rights enforcement unworkable. The Supreme Court struck down Trump's citizenship question in 2019 because the rationale was "contrived." Experts warn this administration has learned from that failure and is following the procedural steps more carefully this time. That makes congressional pushback essential. Use every available tool — oversight hearings, appropriations riders, public pressure — to stop this rule from advancing.