Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner in Washington, Pablo José Hernández, asked the federal Census Bureau on the final day for public comments to stop a proposed rule by the Trump administration, presented in September, that could drop race, ethnicity and sexual orientation questions from the decennial federal Census questionnaire, change the criteria for determining 'usual residence', and allow the use of tax records. In a letter to the agency’s leadership, Hernández urged it not to 'finalize the proposed changes without first resolving their legal, methodological and operational implications for Puerto Rico', warning that less precise data would make it harder to identify communities’ needs and prioritize services and resources.
A coalition of Puerto Rican organizations had warned the changes could artificially shrink Puerto Rico’s population, make the diaspora invisible, and put access to millions of dollars in federal program funding at risk. Hernández noted most island residents file only with the Puerto Rico Treasury Department because income exclusively from Puerto Rico sources is generally not subject to federal individual income tax, so a missing federal return would not mean someone lacks valid residence.
He also cited that about 40% of households or structures on the island lack physical addresses. Adi Martínez Román, co-director of Right to Democracy, said the rules never mention the territories, and economist José Caraballo Cueto of UPR Río Piedras warned an undercounted Census would also skew related surveys.