The Census Bureau announced a proposed rule that would redefine how residence is counted and eliminate questions on race and ethnicity. Several groups warned on Friday that it would harm both Puerto Rico residents and Puerto Ricans living in the continental United States. Comments are accepted until November 2 through the template at prcuenta.com/comenta or at regulations.gov, under docket USBC-2026-0628, using the "Comment" option.
The mobilization is led by PR Cuenta, with the Center for a New Economy, Espacios Abiertos, ABRE PR, the Youth Development Institute and Right to Democracy. The rule, proposed on September 10, does not specify how Puerto Rico’s particularities would be handled, the groups said at a Friday conference. Residence would no longer be measured by where a person lives and sleeps most of the time, but by where they were legally present the most days between January 3 and April 1 of the count year, shown through evidence such as tax records instead of census fieldwork.
Non-citizens would stop counting for congressional seat apportionment, and there would be no questions on race, ethnicity or sexual orientation, so no box to identify as "Puerto Rican". The groups said this would affect federal funding, redistricting and areas such as education, child health, Medicaid, jobs, infrastructure and disaster aid. They noted that 40 to 60% of the archipelago’s population, over a million people, has non-standardized addresses, and that second names and maternal surnames can create identity-matching problems.