The Biden administration is considering how to make changes to the decennial Census to inquire about respondents’ race and ethnicity in a new way, NPR first reported.
The proposed changes, first suggested during the Obama administration, would adjust how the federal government counts the Hispanic and Latino populations. The U.S. defines “white,” “Black,” and “Hispanic” in limited ways, forcing the Census to confine to these definitions.
Another proposal adds a new ethnic category to the list to include an option for people of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry, who the U.S. census currently considers to be white.
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Several other recommendations include removing the term “Negro” in reference to Black people from Census surveys and the phrase “Far East” describing people of Asian descent.
The Trump administration held up the change, leaving the recently completed 2020 Census confined to its past questionnaire. Along with delays and missteps, these concerns question the accuracy and integrity of the Census results expected to be released next month.
The White House Office of Management and Budget could approve the changes under Biden.
“We are continuing to review the prior technical recommendations and public comment,” OMB spokesman Abdullah Hasan told NPR, “and the extent to which those recommendations help advance this Administration’s goal of gathering the data necessary to inform our ambitious equity agenda.”
A growing number of people have identified as “Some Other Race” in the last two major Census surveys. Recommendations say providing more accurate selections would help alleviate people’s hesitancy to respond to unrelatable choices.
“The census director doesn’t have the authority to include any specific questions,” said Robert Santos, Biden’s pick to be Census Bureau director. “But I can use my own personal perspective as a Latino and use my research experience and my leadership position to work with [other federal agencies] to make sure that the proper attention is given to that specific issue.”
A report from the Office of the Inspector General released Monday concluded Trump’s commerce secretary lied twice to Congress about his motivation for attempting to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The Department of Justice, however, declined to prosecute his perjury.
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