1. United States
2. N.C.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to oppose the Trump administration's proposed rule to exclude noncitizens without green cards from the 2030 decennial census apportionment. This proposal is fundamentally unconstitutional and requires immediate congressional action. The Fourteenth Amendment mandates that representation be apportioned among the states based on "the whole number of persons in each State." The administration's proposal to exclude approximately 15.8 million people based on immigration status directly violates this constitutional requirement. The Census Bureau lacks the statutory authority to make such exclusions under current law, particularly 13 U.S.C. Section 141, which requires counting the "population" without qualification based on citizenship or legal status. The proposal compounds this constitutional violation by eliminating race and ethnicity data collected since 1790, while adding an intrusive citizenship question. Removing demographic data will cripple civil rights enforcement under the Voting Rights Act and other statutes that rely on detailed racial and ethnic breakdowns to identify discrimination. Adding a citizenship question will depress response rates among immigrant communities and undercount vulnerable populations, further distorting apportionment and federal funding allocation. I expect there will be lawsuits on this issue which will take time to play out. In the meantime I urge you to support a more immediate solution: inserting appropriations language into the fiscal year 2027 Commerce Department appropriations bill that explicitly prohibits the Census Bureau from using any funds to implement these changes. This approach bypasses the need for a supermajority and can be attached to must-pass legislation. I also strongly encourage you to urge your constituents to file public comments opposing this proposed rule. The public comment period closes on October 13, 2026. Comments should be submitted FDMS Docket number USBC–2026–0628 at regulations.gov. This direct participation will strengthen legal challenges and demonstrate public concern. The administration's proposal assaults constitutional apportionment principles and civil rights enforcement. I trust you will work to block this rule.