President Trump backed away from his effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census but said he would determine how many citizens are in the U.S. another way — by signing an executive order to gather the data.
“Today, I will be issuing an executive order to put this very plan into effect immediately. I’m hereby ordering every department and agency in the federal government to provide the Department of Commerce with all requested records regarding the number of citizens and non-citizens in our country,” Trump said in the Rose Garden alongside Attorney General Bill Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
NEW: Pres. Trump says he's issuing executive order requiring all gov't agencies to provide records on "number of citizens and non-citizens in our country."
"We will utilize these vast federal databases to gain a full, complete, and accurate count of the non-citizen population." pic.twitter.com/JpjlZmusS8
— ABC News (@ABC) July 11, 2019
