Ensuring a Lawful and Accurate Enumeration and Apportionment Pursuant to the Decennial Census

2021-01-25Executive Order 13986
Signed by: Joseph R. Biden Jr.
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Headline: Federal Census Must Count All Residents Regardless of Immigration Status

What it does: Agencies must report state population counts that include every person living in the state, without regard to immigration status.

Real World Impact:
  • Requires Census report to include every resident regardless of immigration status.
  • Affects state apportionment data provided to governors and redistricting officials.
  • Revokes prior order and memorandum that sought to exclude people not in lawful immigration status.
Topics: census, apportionment, immigration status, representation

Summary

This order directs the Commerce Secretary and the Census Bureau to count every person living in each State for assigning seats in the House of Representatives, without considering immigration status.

It requires the population numbers sent to the President and to state officials handling redistricting to reflect all usual residents as of the census date, and it tells the Secretary to ensure the data are accurate and lawful.

The order revokes a prior memorandum and an earlier executive order that had sought to exclude non-lawfully present individuals from apportionment counts.

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