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Before Florida 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鈥檚 past is present after President Donald Trump 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 . "Illegals shouldn鈥檛 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鈥檚 based on population figures , including people who are not U.S. citizens.
Uthmeier is right that the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Trump鈥檚 2019 in the 2020 census. But that the census asked the question for 150 years before President Barack Obama came along.
READ MORE: Gov. DeSantis is challenging the 2020 Census results
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 , 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 convened a select committee on congressional redistricting to look at the state鈥檚 map.
PolitiFact contacted Uthmeier鈥檚 office for comment but did not hear back by publication.
What鈥檚 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 asked for the head of the family鈥檚 name and number of people in the household, including enslaved people.
The first version of a census citizenship question appeared , asking each household "the number of foreigners not naturalized." Until 1920, it was asked only of adult men 鈥� women and children automatically had the 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 , 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 .
, the Census Bureau started distributing two different 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
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- PolitiFact, , April 4, 2019
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- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, , Updated July 5, 2020
- Census.gov, , , , Accessed Aug. 28, 2025
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- 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
