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Before Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed James Uthmeier, his former chief of staff, as attorney general, Uthmeier worked in the first Trump administration in the Department of Commerce, which oversees the U.S. Census Bureau.
Now Uthmeier's past is present after President Donald Trump called for a rare, mid-decade census to exclude immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
"During my time working in the first Trump Admin, the Supreme Ct (5-4 decision) blocked us from asking in the Census whether someone is a U.S. citizen (though it was asked for over 150 years, prior to Obama admin)," Uthmeier posted Aug. 24 on X. "Illegals shouldn't be included in apportionment."
Apportionment is how the federal government determines how many seats each state receives in the U.S. House of Representatives. It's based on population figures reported in the census, including people who are not U.S. citizens.
Uthmeier is right that the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Trump's 2019 attempt to add a citizenship question in the 2020 census. But he's wrong that the census asked the question for 150 years before President Barack Obama came along.
The 2010 census broke from tradition, but the change was in the works before Obama took office, and the Census Bureau continues to ask about citizenship in an annual survey.
"The Obama administration did not change the census question related to citizenship," said Terri Lowenthal, a former congressional staffer and census expert. Instead, the question was included in the annual American Community Survey, which replaced a long-form census questionnaire. Not everyone who received a census form received the question.
Joining other states jockeying for congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterms, Florida Republican legislators convened a select committee on congressional redistricting to look at the state's map.
PolitiFact contacted Uthmeier's office for comment but did not hear back by publication.
What's the history of census citizenship questions?
Uthmeier said a citizenship question was asked in the census "for over 150 years," but it has not been part of the decennial census for all U.S. households that entire time.
The earliest U.S. census in 1790 asked for the head of the family's name and number of people in the household, including enslaved people.
The first version of a census citizenship question appeared in 1820, asking each household "the number of foreigners not naturalized." Until 1920, it was asked only of adult men — women and children automatically had the same citizenship status as their husbands or fathers.
Some form of the citizenship question has been included as a general question every decade since 1890 (but not asked of all households), with the exception of 1960, which focused on place of birth.
The last time the Census Bureau came close to asking every household about citizenship status was in 1950, when census workers knocked on doors and interviewed residents. They asked where each person was born and, in a follow-up question for those born outside the U.S., asked if they were a naturalized citizen.
In 1970, the Census Bureau started distributing two questionnaires: a short form sent to most households and a long form sent to about 1 in 6 households. Only the long version asked about citizenship.
Sources
- X, James Uthmeier post, Aug. 24, 2025
- PolitiFact, Meadows wrongly claims Obama removed census citizenship question in 2010, April 4, 2019
- Census.gov, U.S. Census Bureau History, Updated Jan. 21, 2025
- Census.gov, Decennial Census of Population and Housing Questionnaires & Instructions, Accessed Aug. 27, 2025
- Census.gov, Understanding the Quality of Alternative Citizenship Data Sources for the 2020 Census, June 2019
- Census.gov, About the 1790 Decennial Census, Updated Jan. 13, 2024
- National Archives, Questions Asked on the 1950 Census, Updated June 17, 2022
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Citizenship and Naturalization, Updated July 5, 2020
- Census.gov, 1970 Census Questionnaire, 1980 Census Questionnaire, 1990 Census Questionnaire, 2000 Census Questionnaire, Accessed Aug. 28, 2025
- Census.gov, 2000 Census Long-Form Questionnaire, Accessed Aug. 28, 2025
- Census.gov, 2010 Census Questionnaire, Accessed Aug. 28, 2025
- Census.gov, American Community Survey History, Sept. 25, 2024
- Census.gov, The American Community Survey - Informational Copy (2025), Accessed Aug. 28, 2025
- Census.gov, 2001-2002 Operational Feasibility Report of the American Community Survey, May 2024
- Science Direct, The American Community Survey: An introduction to the basics, July 2008
- Census.gov, Accuracy of the Data (2004)
- The New York Times, Census Bureau's Own Expert Panel Rebukes Decision to Add Citizenship Question, March 30, 2018
- The New York Times, Claims That Obama 'Yanked' Citizenship Question From Census Are False; July 12, 2019
- NPR: FACT CHECK: Has Citizenship Been A Standard Census Question?, March 27, 2018
- The Miami Herald, Governor says Florida cares about census process after all. Nuñez to lead committee, Jan. 7, 2020
- CBS News, Why Florida is revisiting its congressional map, and what it could mean for 2026, Aug. 8, 2025
- Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Citizenship question effects on household survey response, March 20, 2025
- Email interview, Terri Lowenthal, expert, consultant on the US census and policy issues affecting federal statistics, Aug. 26-28, 2025
- Email interview, U.S. Census Bureau public information office, Aug. 25-28, 2025
- Email and Phone interview, Misty Lee Heggeness, University of Kansas associate professor and former U.S. Census Bureau economist, Aug. 26-28, 2025
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