Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham is unsure if the agency's work assembling data on citizenship will be used for redistricting and apportionment, Talking Points Memo reports.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., asked Dillingham about the data collection during a hearing before a House Oversight subcommittee on Wednesday. Pressley asked if a recent executive order issued by President Donald Trump directing the bureau to piece together citizenship data from existing documents will lead to redistricting. She specifically asked if he could confirm that the data would not be used in the Census Bureau's apportionment count determining how many U.S. representatives and Electoral College votes that states get.
"Let me get you back to you on that," Dillingham responded, also declining to say if citizenship ought to be used in the count. "I just need to know the mechanics, congresswoman, and I will get back to you on that."
He later said in response to a separate question that the Census Bureau doesn't choose how the government uses the data it produces.
When asked if he's been involved in discussions on including citizenship data in the Census Bureau's redistricting file provided for state-level cartographers, which would likely lead to the exclusion of noncitizens from consideration when drawing legislative districts, Dillingham said, "Congresswoman, let me get back to you on that. Whatever that executive order says."
The director agreed to respond to Pressley's questions within the next 10 days.
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