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US Census Director Resigns Amid Accusations of Rushing Out Data

VOA News

   U.S. Census Bureau Director Steve Dillingham resigned Monday amid
   allegations he supported Republican calls to hand data to President
   Donald Trump before he leaves office.

   Dillingham has been under scrutiny since a January 12 letter from
   Department of Commerce Inspector General Peggy E. Gustafson requesting
   explanation of his behavior. The correspondence exposed whistleblower
   allegations that some Census Bureau political appointees were pushing
   for the early release of data on undocumented immigrants in order to
   please the president.

   First results are scheduled to be released March 6 at the earliest, but
   political appointees were allegedly pushing for a January 15 release
   date.

   The high-pressure approach raised concerns among some in the bureau
   that the early release of data could jeopardize the accuracy of the
   information. One whistleblower indicated that if released in a rush,
   the data would be "statistically indefensible" and could be
   "misinterpreted, misused, or otherwise tarnish the Bureau's
   reputation."

   In a response statement to the letter, Dillingham wrote that he acted
   with due diligence.

   "The reported whistleblower concerns appear to be misunderstandings
   regarding the planned process for the review and potential postings of
   data, and the agreed-upon need to apply data quality standards," the
   director said.

   Undocumented immigrants have long been a point of interest for the
   Trump administration regarding census data. In 2018, the White House
   pushed to include a citizenship question in the questionnaire, a
   request that was later blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court. In an effort
   to accelerate data processing amid the coronavirus pandemic, the
   government in 2020 suggested that undocumented immigrants not be
   counted, a decision that was also dismissed.

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