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Schools, hospitals ‘need to know how many people they serve,’ immigration expert says of proposed census changes
September 10, 2026
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In its proposal on the Federal Register on Wednesday, the U.S. Census Bureau suggested adding a citizenship question to the questionnaire, arguing that the census count should exclude undocumented immigrants and noncitizens without permanent residency.
Matt Hall, a professor of public policy whose research focuses on immigration and the economic and social impacts of unauthorized migration, says debates about immigration policy are one thing, but Americans should still agree the census should tell us how many people are here and where they live.
Matthew Hall
Associate Professor of Policy and Management
“We can have fierce debates about immigration policy: who should be admitted, who should be allowed to stay, and who should become a citizen. But we should still agree that the census tells us how many people are actually here and where they live.
“You cannot simply subtract undocumented immigrants from the census and assume everyone else will be counted accurately. Millions of Americans live in households with different immigration statuses. If one person becomes reluctant to participate because the census is tied to legal status, you risk missing the citizen spouse or child living in that household too.
“Accurate population counts have very practical consequences. Schools need to know how many children will show up. Hospitals need to know how many people they will serve. Communities need to plan housing, roads, utilities, and services for the population that actually lives there, not just the population that meets a particular legal definition.
“This matters especially now when communities across the U.S.-red, blue, urban, rural–are undergoing rapid population change. With births low and migration increasingly shaping which places grow and which shrink, this is precisely when we need better population measures, not weaker ones.”
