President Donald Trump has signed an executive order barring undocumented immigrants from being included in the 2020 census count.The statement from the White House press secretary says, “Giving congressional representation and political influence to illegal aliens — people who have blatantly disregarded our laws — would be a perversion of our democratic principles.”It goes on to state that “allowing illegal aliens to be counted for the purpose of apportionment could also create perverse incentives — such as potentially rewarding states that encourage violations of Federal immigration law — that would undermine our system of government.”FILE – This April 5, 2020, photo shows an envelope containing a 2020 census letter mailed to a U.S. resident in Detroit.The Trump administration previously has sought to use the census as a way to identify undocumented migrants. The administration said in 2018 it would include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. The FILE – U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) leaves after a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 19, 2020.Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer released a statement Tuesday in response to Trump’s effort to ban undocumented immigrants from being counted in the 2020 census.”This order isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on and will be struck down by the courts. Attempting to weaponize the Census for political gain is yet another racially driven attack by a president and administration that wrongly views immigrants as the enemy, when they are a vital part of our society.”The census takes place every 10 years. This year’s counting process has been extended because of the coronavirus pandemic.U.S. residents complete the census survey online or by paper questionnaire. Those who don’t respond are visited by census workers who knock on doors, seeking to reach 99% of the 140 million U.S. households.The door-knocking operation was extended from July 31 to August 14 to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Federal law requires the Census Bureau to submit final population figures to the president by December 31.
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