Top Trump Administration Official Lied Under Oath on Adding Citizenship Question to Census: Documents

A top official in the administration of former President Donald Trump was untruthful while testifying on adding a citizenship question to the Census, according to documents released July 20 by a top Democrat.

Wilbur Ross, the secretary of Commerce during the Trump administration, told a congressional panel in 2018 that the move to place the question back on the Census was “solely” in response to a request from the Department of Justice, and that the department initiated the move.

Ross also said that his interest in the matter had nothing to do with counting the number of illegal immigrants for apportionment purposes.

But documents obtained and released (pdf) by the House Oversight Committee show that Ross and Department of Commerce workers spent months exploring the legality of returning the question to the Census, that Ross repeatedly asked the department to provide the request, and that there were discussions about how the move would affect apportionment, or the way U.S. House of Representatives seats are allocated by state based on population.

They also appeared to show that the stated rationale for the move—to improve enforcement of the Voting Rights Act—originated with Ross’s agency.

The document release “shows clearly how the Trump Administration secretly tried to manipulate the census for political gain while lying to the public and Congress about their goals,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the oversight panel, said in a statement.

The Department of Commerce Inspectors General previously found (pdf) that Ross “mispresented the full rationale” for reinstating the citizenship question while speaking before Congress, but prosecutors declined to prosecute him.

Ross could not be reached for comment.

Citizenship Question

The question of one’s citizenship was included in every Census from 1790 to 1950.

The Department of Justice in a letter to the Census Bureau in December 2017 asked the bureau