1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

During his first term, Trump attempted to exclude non-US citizens from the 2020 census, a move that would have violated the 14th Amendment’s requirement that the census count “the whole number of persons in each State.” The Supreme Court dismissed as premature a case challenging Trump's effort to rig the 2020 census. President Biden then reversed Trump's executive order, and the 2020 census proceeded as required by the US Constitution. Trump is making a second effort to exclude non-US citizens from the census by proposing a “new” census that will ignore the constitutional mandate requiring the count “of all persons in each state.” Trump's proposal is unconstitutional on many levels. Any changes in conducting a U.S. census would require alterations to the Census Act and approval from Congress, which has oversight responsibilities. The federal law governing the census permits a mid-decade head count for things like distributing federal funding, but it can’t be used for apportionment or redistricting and must be done in a year ending in 5. Additionally, the 14th Amendment says that “the whole number of persons in each state” are to be counted for the numbers used for apportionment, and the Census Bureau has interpreted that to mean anybody residing in the United States regardless of legal status. Federal courts have repeatedly supported that interpretation. Please ensure that congress maintains oversight of any changes to the Census Act and any mid-decade census efforts.