Senator Jim Banks urges Commerce department to probe 2020 Census miscounts

Indiana Republican Sen. Jim Banks on Monday urged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the United States Census Bureau to probe the 2020 Census, arguing it may have been skewed under the Biden administration to include illegal migrants. 

Banks said the investigation should look into whether the census improperly shifted congressional representation and Electoral College votes. 

"As prepared by the Biden administration, the 2020 Census reports miscounted the population of fourteen states, wrongly allocating six congressional seats and Electoral College votes to the Democrat party," the letter states. "The reports may have also miscounted the population in a number of voting districts."

The letter comes after President Donald Trump directed the department in August to conduct a new census report, which is usually released every 10 years. 

The senator stated that the Biden administration used a controversial statistical method called differential privacy in the census and allegedly counted illegal migrants without confirming their citizenship status.

“As problematic as the 2020 Census was for apportionment, it may have been disastrous for redistricting," Banks wrote in the letter. "Differential privacy alters the total population of individual voting districts, meaning that any voting district drawn since the 2020 census may in fact have been based on false data and may even be unlawful. 

"The worst part is that we don’t know how many voting districts are problematic," Banks continued. "A file containing the original, unaltered census data exists, but only a few bureaucrats have access to it.”

Banks said the bureau should release a new 2020 Census that uses raw data and gives states a clearer view of their constituents, and insisted that the 2030 Census must use a methodology that accurately counts the legal population of state and local districts.

"At the very least, the American people and their representatives deserve to know how many people are here unlawfully," Banks concluded. "The 2030 Census must therefore request citizenship status—and ensure that differential privacy is not used to mask citizenship data." 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.