As reported in the Federal
update, one of President Biden’s first actions in office
was to reverse a controversial directive issued by the Trump
Administration to exclude undocumented immigrants from the
decennial census. However, the Executive Order did not address a
separate command from 2018, given by former Secretary of Commerce
Wilbur Ross, that the Bureau produce anonymized, block-level data
about the U.S. citizenship status of every adult living in the
country.
The timeline for delivery of the data needed for redistricting,
however, is still not set in stone. The Census Bureau
traditionally delivers a report with the data determining
congressional apportionment delivered by December 31, followed by
detailed data sufficient for redistricting delivered by April 1.
Last week, it was announced that the first set of results are not
expected to be ready until March 6. The timing of release
for the second set of results, used for redistricting, has yet to
be announced, but the
Census website still maintains that their goal is to meet the
statutory April 1 deadline. The Census Bureau has begun releasing
the geographic products necessary for redistricting, such as
shape files and maps. California’s geographic products are
scheduled to be released next week.
Lastly, on Monday, Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham
announced his retirement despite nearly a year left in his term.
His retirement comes after whistleblower complaints that
Dillingham pressured employees to produce a report excluding
undocumented immigrants before President Biden was sworn in.
Career Census employees warned that the report would be
“statistically indefensible” and could be “misinterpreted,
misused, or otherwise tarnish the Bureau’s reputation.”
