Three Lawsuits Say Trump Order Banning Undocumented Immigrants From Census Is Unconstitutional

The Trump administration has been hit with three lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order that excludes undocumented immigrants in the U.S. from submitting census data.

The lawsuits explain that the order will radically affect the representation and resources allocated to states with highest immigrant populations. The lawsuits assert that this decision represents a constitutional violation akin to slavery-era denial of personhood, and argue that it is prohibited by the 13th and 14th Amendments.  

The three lawsuits were filed by the District of Columbia, a coalition of states led by New York and immigrants rights groups, according to the Gothamist.

With the 2020 census already in progress, President Trump signed an executive order preventing undocumented immigrants from being counted in the census. The three lawsuits explain that this move is a marked contrast from the last 150 years, when every resident, regardless of immigration status, was counted in the census. 

According to CNN, this is just one of Trump’s attempts to use the 2020 census as a way to discover who is a citizen and who is not, in an effort to push aggressive immigration policies.

The immigrant groups’ lawsuit assert that this effort, and Trump’s aggressive anti-immigration efforts, are “part of an unconstitutional concerted effort to shift political power away from racial and ethnic minorities, chiefly Latinos” and towards non-Hispanic white people and the Republican Party. Allegedly, these sentiments have been evidenced since Trump’s campaign for the presidency.

The states and immigrants rights groups explain that the Trump policy will likely discourage many immigrants from participating in the 2020 census.

CNN explains that many immigrants rights groups have tried to reach out to immigrant groups to explain that the census does not ask questions about immigration, in an effort to encourage them to participate, but this move will likely make that work much more difficult.

NPR explains why the stakes of the census data decision are so high.

Reportedly, the population counts determined from the census affect the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives.

According to the states and immigrants rights groups, not allowing undocumented immigrants in U.S. to be counted in the census will unfairly give states with low immigrant populations an unfair advantage in the representation they receive. 

NPR cites the Pew Research Center’s information on the 2020 census, noting that excluding undocumented immigrants from the census data would likely take away one House of Representatives seat from California, Florida and Texas. In contrast, Minnesota, Ohio and Alabama would likely retain a House of Representatives seat they would have lost if undocumented immigrants were counted, as they have been in the past.

The states and immigrants rights groups first challenge how Trump went about making the change to the collection of census data. NPR notes that the lawsuit led by New York and joined by other states and cities has claimed Trump violated the Administrative Procedure Act by banning undocumented immigrants from the census, saying that the decision was unsupported by data and was “arbitrary and capricious.” 

The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union asserted that the decision violated administrative law as well, saying the decision was made outside of proper procedures.

The lawsuits then go into the meat of their arguments against not only how the decision was made, but that it was made at all.

They assert that this decision echoes the 1857 U.S. Supreme Court decision made in Dred Scott v. Sandford that prohibited Black people from obtaining U.S. citizenship. They also explain that this decision was overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. 

“For 150 years — since the United States recognized the whole personhood of those formerly bound in slavery — the unambiguous requirement that all persons be counted for apportionment purposes, regardless of immigration status, has been respected by every executive official, every cabinet officer, and every president, until now,” the states note.  

Have you participated in the 2020 census? Tell us in the comments below.

Plaintiffs in the Washington, D.C., lawsuit are represented by Daniel S. Ruzumna, Gregory L. Diskant, Aron Fischer, and Jonah M. Knobler of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, Emmet J. Bondurant of Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP and Michael B. Kimberly of McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

Plaintiffs in the New York lawsuit are represented by the offices of the attorneys general for their respective states.

The New York Trump Immigration Census Data Lawsuit is State of New York, et al. v. Trump, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-05770, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The District of Columbia Trump Immigration Census Data Lawsuit is Common Cause, et al. v. Trump, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-02023, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

Wells Fargo DACA Class Action Lawsuit Settles Days Before Major Supreme Court Ruling

Trump Admin Drops International Students Deportation Policy

FDA Discusses Better Testing Methods for Finding Asbestos in Baby Powder

Zantac Lawsuit Alleges More Than 20 Years of Ranitidine Caused Prostate Cancer