Trump expected to drop census 2020 citizenship question efforts: report

President Donald Trump is expected to drop efforts on Thursday to get a citizenship question on the 2020 census and will instead direct the Commerce Department to measure citizenship numbers through other means, ABC News reported.

The decision will end speculation about the future of the question after the Supreme Court temporarily barred its inclusion in the decennial count, with Chief Justice John Roberts calling the justification for it “contrived.” The Commerce Department announced about a week ago it was conceding the fight and had started printing census forms without the controversial question.

However, the president contradicted that announcement soon after, causing confusion among observers and even federal judges hearing cases connected to the question.

The inclusion of a question was predicted to significantly decrease response rates for immigrants, regardless of their residency status, because of fears about how that information would be used. That would’ve been particularly damaging for California, home to more immigrants, low-income residents and those not fluent in English than any other state, all of whom are already considered hard to count populations.

Even without the question, many activists, observers and government officials say the damage has been done. That could still negatively impact finances in the state and the Bay Area. California’s population could be undercounted by 596,200 people, according to an analysis from The Urban Institute, a nonprofit research group in Washington, D.C. That includes 462,300 Hispanic and 96,700 black residents.

Every person not counted costs California roughly $2,000 in early education funding, food assistance and housing vouchers, according to George Washington University. That means the Urban Institutes anticipated undercount could cost California $1.16 billion in federal funding.

California is hoping to minimize those losses with a robust outreach and marketing effort — to the tune of $100.4 million to count a projected 40.56 million residents, more per person than any other state.