The data shapes political representation, but it also drives decisions on funding, infrastructure, business, and emergency planning. Altering how it’s collected could undermine all of that.

By Jessica Huseman for Votebeat

President Donald Trump wants to run a new census before next year’s midterms — and leave undocumented immigrants out of the count. That wouldn’t just reshape political maps. It would warp the data that governments, businesses, and researchers rely on for the work they do and the investments they make. An incomplete or rushed count means flawed decisions, with consequences that last far beyond one election.

The census gives the government its most complete snapshot of the country. The federal government uses it to decide where to send billions of dollars for Medicaid, f

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