Sponsors (2)
The bill trades improved, standardized data for governments and researchers about residents' dual citizenship against heightened privacy/confidentiality risks, possible lower census response rates that could harm representation, and added administrative costs for taxpayers.
State and local governments, researchers, and planners will gain standardized, longitudinal data on residents' dual citizenship from a consistent decennial census question, improving redistricting, representation planning, and policy/program design.
Collecting country‑of‑citizenship information raises privacy and confidentiality risks for immigrants and dual citizens, increasing disclosure concerns and potential harms from sensitive data being linked or exposed.
Some respondents—particularly immigrants and communities with foreign ties—may be reluctant to answer the question, reducing census response rates or data quality and potentially affecting apportionment and other census‑based decisions (impacting taxpayers and represented communities).
Implementing a new standardized question will impose administrative costs on the Census Bureau for question design, testing, and outreach, costs ultimately borne by taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds a dual-citizenship checkbox and a field to identify the other country for each person on the decennial census beginning in 2030.
Adds a new question to the decennial census asking respondents whether they (and each household member) hold dual citizenship and to identify the other country of citizenship, starting with the 2030 census and for every decennial census thereafter. The change amends existing Census Bureau authority to require a checkbox or similar option for dual citizenship on questionnaires used to determine total population by state.
Official title: To require the Bureau of the Census to collect information on dual citizenship status through the decennial census.
Introduced December 5, 2025 by Abraham J. Hamadeh · Last progress December 5, 2025