Austin Mayor To Address The Need For An Accurate Census Count

AUSTIN, TX — The importance of an accurate census count will be the focus of the mayor's weekly presentation on Tuesday evening.

The matter of an accurate head count has been heightened after the Trump administration slashed the amount of time census workers have to perform their household surveys. The potential under count given the shortened counting period would result in underrepresentation and funding shortfalls for such critical needs as infrastructure and health preparedness, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said.

Scheduled to join the mayor in his weekly "Got a Minute?" presentation is Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant. The presentation can be viewed in one of two ways:

• Live on YouTube.
• Live on Facebook.

In July, the Trump administration issued a memorandum ordering the removal of undocumented immigrants — termed as “illegal aliens” in officials missive — from the census head count that is the basis for reapportioning U.S. House of Representatives members among states in ensuring representation for constituents. Following the memo's release, the Trump White House ordered a shortened period of counting by one month — a move that sparked concerns of a potential under count of demographic segments of the population not comprising Trump's political base.

The move to delete undocumented immigrants from the census count follows a failed proposal by the Trump administration that sought to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The effort failed to pass muster with the U.S. Supreme Court. Following that judicial ruling, the Trump White House ordered creation of a database designed to identify undocumented immigrants, with data drawn from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and other sources.

It's yet unclear if that database can be compiled with accuracy, and the memorandum already has prompted legal challenges based on the premise that the move runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution and the 14th Amendment ensuring congressional representation is contingent on "whole numbers of persons" in each of the 50 states.