Citizenship data plan facing hurdles
Expert calls logistical obstacles ‘significant’
WASHINGTON — After failing to get his citizenship question on the census, President Donald Trump now says his fallback plan will provide an even more accurate count.
But his plan will likely be limited by logistical hurdles and legal restrictions.
Trump wants to distill a massive trove of data across seven government agencies. He directed the Commerce Department, which manages the census, to form a working group.
“The logistical barriers are significant, if not insurmountable,” said Paul Light, a senior fellow of governance studies at New York University with a long history of research in government reform. “The federal government does not invest, and hasn’t been investing for a long time, in the kind of data systems and recruitment of experts that this kind of database construction would require.”
Trump’s executive order announced Thursday requires highly detailed information, including national-level files of all lawful permanent residents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrival and departure data and Social Security Administration master beneficiary records.
According to a 2018 report, the Census Bureau already has access to data from the IRS, Social Security, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Postal Service, the Selective Service System, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Indian Health Service. The agency also gets data from some states that administer federal programs such as food stamps and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program.
Virtually all federal social programs are open only to citizens or to immigrants who have been lawfully present for at least five years.
“I think the executive order will just hurry up negotiations about data-sharing that are already in the works,” said Julia Gelatt, a senior policy analyst for the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute think tank.