H.R. 5156 — COUNT Act

This section declares it to be the policy of the United States to develop complete and accurate data on the number of citizens, noncitizens, and illegal aliens in the country. Such data is necessary to understand the effects of immigration and to inform policymakers in setting and evaluating immigration policies and laws, including proposals to address the current crisis in illegal immigration.

This section requires each federal agency to provide the Department of Commerce maximum permissible assistance, including access to administrative records, in determining the number of U.S. citizens, noncitizens, and illegal aliens. It specifically directs the following agencies to examine legal authorities and, to the maximum extent consistent with law, provide access to designated records: (1) Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services national-level files of lawful permanent residents and naturalizations; (2) DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement F1 and M1 nonimmigrant visa data; (3) DHS national-level customs and border arrival/departure data; (4) DHS and Department of State refugee and asylum visa data; (5) Department of State national-level passport application data; (6) Social Security Administration master beneficiary records; and (7) Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Medicaid and CHIP information system. The section further directs the Census Bureau Director to establish and chair an interagency working group—with representatives designated by agency heads—to coordinate, consistent with law, the maximum availability of administrative records for the census, with the goal of establishing citizenship status for 100% of the population. Additionally, it requires the Secretary of Commerce to initiate any necessary administrative processes to include a citizenship question on the 2030 decennial census and to consider regulatory changes ensuring citizenship data collection in other Census Bureau surveys and efforts, including the American Community Survey (ACS); the Secretary must also expand ACS distribution to improve citizenship data. Finally, the section directs the Department of Commerce to strengthen efforts, consistent with law, to access relevant state administrative records and to submit annual reports to Congress on the status of these efforts, including a list of states refusing to provide such records.

This section prohibits the Bureau of the Census from using differential privacy (i.e., a technique that adds statistical noise to protect individual respondent privacy in public data releases) beginning 6 months after enactment and directs the Census Director to issue public guidance on alternative privacy protections for individual responses.