Robert Santos, who emphasized inclusivity and outreach to overlooked communities, has decided to resign as director of the U.S. Census Bureau, midway through his five-year term and in the midst of planning for the 2030 census, which will determine political power and federal funding nationwide for another decade to come.
Santos, who was appointed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, said in a letter Thursday evening that he made the decision “after deep reflection.” Santos was sworn in as the bureau's 26th director, and its first Hispanic leader, in 2022.
His planned departure clears the way for Republican President Donald Trump to reshape the agency's leadership as his allies in Congress and among GOP state attorneys general renew efforts to exclude people in the U.S. illegally from the census numbers used to divvy up congressional seats and Electoral College votes among states.
A Republican redistricting expert wrote that using citizen voting-age population instead of the total population for the purpose of redrawing congressional and legislative districts could be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites. The census numbers also guide the distribution of $2.8 trillion in federal dollars to the states for roads, health care and other programs.
Civil rights groups on Friday urged Trump to appoint an impartial leader to head the nation's largest statistical agency.
“The integrity of the U.S. Census Bureau must remain above partisan influence, ensuring that data collection and reporting continue to serve the American people with accuracy, transparency, and fairness,” The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said in a statement.
Besides planning for the 2030 census, Santos and other bureau leaders were overseeing changes to the questionnaires for the next once-a-decade head count and the annual American Community Survey when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as race and ethnicity.
Queries about sexual orientation and gender identity were planned for the 2027 annual survey of American life for the first time. The bureau also was implementing a directive from the Biden administration to combine questions about race and ethnicity and add a new Middle Eastern and North African category.
During his term, Santos emphasized restoring trust to the Census Bureau following Trump's first term. Many census-watchers felt Trump's administration tried to politicize the 2020 census by installing large numbers of political appointees at the agency and through failed efforts to keep people in the U.S. illegally from being counted for apportionment.
The Fourteenth Amendment says that “the whole number of persons in each state” should be counted for the numbers used for apportionment.
Before joining the Census Bureau, Santos was a vice president and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute and had spent four decades in survey research, statistical design and analysis and executive-level management. The Texas native said in his letter that he planned to spend time with his family in retirement.
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The story has been corrected to show that Robert Santos has decided to resign as director of the U.S. Census Bureau instead of has resigned from the agency.
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