Trump aimed to erode immigrant representation with census citizenship question, documents show

Excluding non-citizens from the apportionment count, and therefore diminishing their political representation, has long been a goal of hard-right immigration groups. It would have clear political impact: California, Texas and Florida all would have lost out on a congressional seat if unauthorized immigrants were excluded from apportionment, a 2020 projection by Pew found. Alabama, Minnesota and Ohio all would have been able to hold on to an additional seat.

Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross became interested in adding a citizenship question shortly after taking office in 2017.

That year, James Uthmeier, a commerce department attorney, set out to analyze the legality of adding a citizenship question to the census at the request of Earl Comstock, a political appointee serving in a top policy role at the agency. In an undated memo released Wednesday, he concluded that doing so would not be lawful. The document makes it clear there is little evidence those who drafted the constitution wanted to exclude non-citizens from apportionment.

But in subsequent drafts throughout 2017, Uthmeier and Comstock substantially changed that analysis.

The memo was eventually hand-delivered to John Gore, a top official at the justice department (DoJ). Attached to the document was a handwritten note from Uthmeier nudging the justice department towards a rationale it could offer for adding the question.

The handwritten note is among the new evidence showing that commerce department officials tried to keep their work on adding a citizenship question quiet.