[Original news item from Sep 15]

From Mark Mather, Population Reference Bureau (Sep 9)

“A new proposed rule, scheduled for publication tomorrow (Sept. 10), would make two independent but related changes to the decennial census. First, it would establish new residence criteria under which foreign citizens who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents would not be counted for congressional apportionment. Second, it would prohibit questions about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation on questionnaires used for census enumeration, while still allowing questions on biological sex, date of birth, and household relationships for data verification purposes. These changes would mark a major break with more than two centuries of census practice: Race data have been collected in every census since 1790, and both citizens and noncitizens who usually reside in the United States have historically been included in congressional apportionment.”

Federal Register notice (Sep 10): “Decennial Census of the Population of Americans; Proposed Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions” (Comment by 10/13)

“Trump officials propose sweeping changes to the census that would reshape voting maps” NPR (Sep 10)

Resources (updated 9/18)

Hands Off Our Census: A project of dataindex.us, The Leadership Conference Education Fund, and others.

Roadmap to the 2030 Census. "...a guiding document of milestones and actions leading to the goal of a 'complete count' of all persons in the United States during the 2030 Census. ... represents the collected wisdom of experienced leaders and experts from organizations committed to ensuring a fair and accurate decennial census, which in turn strengthens our democracy."

Proposed Changes to the 2030 U.S. Census: Resources curated by IPUMS for responding to Docket number USBC-2026-0628

Rapid Response Data Briefing, “The Census Is in Trouble: What You Need to Know About Proposed Changes” (Sep 18)

Background from Pew Research Center (11/3/2025): Short read “The changing categories the U.S. census has used to measure race” Data essay: “Counting Race: How the Census Measures Identity and What Americans Think About It” 

See previous DCSS news items:

“Trump officials cut political interference ban after unusual Census Bureau report” (Sep 6)
“Further Updates on Census and Commerce Dept Data Changes” (Aug 23)