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Trump administration moves to end census in blow to AAPI groups

The U.S. Census Bureau said it would end counting at 6am EDT on Friday following its Supreme Court victory.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Census Bureau announced Tuesday evening that it plans to end all self-response and field data collection operations for the 2020 Census at 6am EDT on Friday, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's emergency request to halt the 2020 count.

The agency said in a statement that Internet self-response would be available through October 15, 2020 until 11:59 pm Hawaii Standard Time, and that paper responses "must be postmarked by October 15, 2020."

The Supreme Court cleared the way for the government to wind down census field operations earlier in the day, in a significant blow to civil rights groups. The high court provided no explanation for its decision, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, writing that a shortened timeline would cause “irreparable” harms.

The Trump administration had asked the Supreme Court to suspend a lower court order that mandated that census field operations continue through October 31, writing that an immediate end would be needed in order for the U.S. Census Bureau to meet congressionally manded reporting requirements.

But activists have long warned that an undercount in the census, which is used to shape the distribution of federal dollars and political power for the next decade, could result in reduced public funding and representation for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. The Census Bureau’s own research shows that Asian Americans are the least likely group to complete their census questionnaires.

Leading D.C.-based advocacy groups, including OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, threw their support behind a bipartisan bill last month that would extend 2020 census field operations. But little progress has been made in Congress.

Separately, the Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court to let it exclude undocumented immigrants from the 2020 census count for the purpose of congressional apportionment after a lower court blocked the move. Advocacy groups including Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC have argued that the use of citizen-only data to draw legislative districting plans would harm AAPI voters, and undocumented AAPI immigrants are particularly sensitive to the battles in Washington.

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it would meet Friday to discuss whether to hear oral arguments related to the case in December, according to NPR News' Hansi Lo Wang.

This story was updated to include the U.S. Census Bureau's announcement on 7:20pm PST, October 13.

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