This story first appeared in Power Shift, The Yappie's weekly newsletter on national AAPI power, politics, and influence. Subscribe for free here.
The U.S. is home to more than 25 million Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
That benchmark could disappear under the Trump administration’s proposed rule to overhaul how the federal government collects demographic data through the U.S. Census—and potentially dilute AAPI political power as soon as the next count in 2030.
The stakes: Census results help determine how many U.S. House seats and Electoral College votes each state receives.
Under the rule change, noncitizens without green cards—including refugees, asylum seekers, and people on work or student visas—could be barred from the apportionment count.
This would render entire swaths of the AAPI community invisible, including:
- Immigrants on temporary and provisional visas.
- Undocumented immigrants, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, and Documented Dreamers.
- Compact of Free Association migrants, including Marshallese, Chuukese, Palauan, and other Micronesian citizens who can live and work in the U.S. indefinitely but are not classified as Lawful Permanent Residents.
States where these groups are concentrated—such as California and New York—could lose House seats as a result.
The new rule would also remove questions about race and ethnicity on the decennial questionnaire, which could deal a harsh blow to efforts to study racial disparities and issues specific to AAPI communities.
- It’d similarly hinder enforcement of civil rights and anti-discrimination laws, and impact allocation of federal resources.
The Trump administration claims the two moves would increase participation in the census, but the language used to justify it tells a slightly different story.
- “Illegal aliens (among others) … are not true inhabitants … due to their lack of a sufficient tie and allegiance to the United States,” the U.S. Census Bureau writes on the Federal Register.
- The agency also states the census should be “colorblind” and that race shouldn’t play a role in deciding House seats.
What now? The public has until Oct. 13 to submit comments.
Our take: For years, community leaders have advocated for the federal government to collect more detailed demographic data—breaking it down by ethnic groups would enable more accurate tracking of long-term trends.
- If enacted, this rule would be an enormous step backwards.
About The Yappie: The Yappie is an independent, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to tracking Asian American and Pacific Islander power, politics, and influence. Learn more at theyappie.com/about.
