A8 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2020
BY FREDRICK KUNKLE
AND TARA BAHRAMPOURCensus Bureau officials appear
to be moving toward wrapping up
the process of counting all inhab-
itants of the U nited States a month
earlier than planned as a result of
direction from the Trump admin-
istration and Congress’s failure to
agree on an extension, current
and former bureau officials said.
The move comes as President
Trump has intensified efforts to
change how census data is used. A
memorandum last week from the
president said undocumented im-
migrants should not be counted
for congressional apportionment,
which legal experts say would be
unconstitutional. Civil rights
groups said the earlier deadline
would also lead to an undercount
of populations that are often hard-
er to count, including minorities,
undocumented immigrants and
low-income families.
The Census Bureau had
planned to continue knocking on
doors, along with telephone and
online efforts, to obtain popula-
tion data until Oct. 3 1 — a date t hat
was moved back earlier this year
because the coronavirus pandem-
ic disrupted the agency’s field op-
erations.
Now it appears that date could
be moved forward to Sept. 30.
A Census Bureau official, who
spoke on the condition of ano-
nymity to speak candidly, said the
shorter window might allow the
bureau to meet its statutory dead-
line of providing data to Congress
and t he p resident b y the end o f the
year. But other bureau officials
have already called into question
whether that’s possible because of
the pandemic.
As of Wednesday, only about
63 percent of all households had
responded, the bureau said. Some
census takers have reportedly
quit, citing concerns about con-
tracting the coronavirus.“We are past the window of
being able to get those counts by
those dates at this point,” Albert
Fontenot, associate director for
decennial census programs, told
reporters in July, referring to the
Dec. 31 deadline to deliver census
data to the president.
NPR, citing three people within
the Census Bureau, w as the first to
report that the date to end field-
knocking activities has been set
for Sept. 30. Bureau spokesman
Michael Cook, who neither con-
firmed nor denied that field opera-tions would end earlier, said the
bureau is attempting to meet its
statutory obligations as they stand
now.
“A t the end of the day, we are
still currently evaluating opera-
tions to enable the Census Bureau
to provide the data in the most
expeditious manner,” Cook said.
“A nd when those plans have been
finalized, we will make an an-
nouncement. That’s where we
are.”
The Trump administration ini-
tially sought four months more tocomplete the decennial tally be-
cause of complications created by
the pandemic. In March, the bu-
reau suspended many field activi-
ties.
By law, a census of the U.S.
population must be delivered to
the president by Dec. 31 of the
census year.
Under the i nitial plan to resume
and extend data collection, the
bureau resumed field activities
June 1 and extended the data col-
lection p eriod f rom mid-August to
Oct. 31.
The Democratic-controlled
House voted to extend the Dec. 31
statutory deadline and set aside
an additional $400 million for the
census effort as part of the Heroes
Act. A measure in the Republican-
controlled Senate also proposed
an additional $448 million b ut did
not include an extension.
Earlier this week, congres-
sional Democrats called the Cen-
sus Bureau’s director, Steven
Dillingham, to an emergency
oversight hearing about Trump’s
directive to exclude undocument-
ed immigrants from the appor-
tionment of congressional repre-
sentatives. Democrats also raised
concerns that the administration
had reversed itself on extending
the count because of the pandem-
ic, saying that holding to the origi-
nal t imeline would l ead to an inac-
curate and unfair count.
The Trump administration has
repeatedly t ried to change the w ay
the d ecennial census i s carried o ut
and how its data is used.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur
Ross announced in 2018 that the
census would ask about citizen-
ship status, sparking m ultiple law-
suits. Last summer, the SupremeCourt struck down the question.
Then, Trump ordered federal
agencies to share administrative
records data on citizenship with
the Commerce Department. Civil
rights organizations have filed a
lawsuit saying that order is dis-
criminatory and violates the Ad-
ministrative Procedure Act, the
same law that c hallengers invoked
against the citizenship question.
Last month the administration
added two high-level political ap-
pointees to the Census Bureau,
eliciting criticism from Demo-
crats in the House and Senate and
raising concern that the new hires
could attempt to influence the
count. Both appointees reportedly
have questioned why the bureau
wants to focus on improving re-
sponse rates in hard-to-count ar-
eas, which include low-income
and minority communities.
Civil rights organizations,
which have already initiated legal
challenges to Trump’s directive on
excluding noncitizens from ap-
portionment, said shutting down
field activities in September
would also distort the count.
“Trump is again seeking to de-
stroy the integrity and accuracy of
the c ensus for partisan g ain,” Vani-
ta Gupta, president and CEO of
the Leadership Conference on Civ-
il and Human Rights, said in a
written statement. She also called
on Congress to extend the Census
Bureau’s reporting deadline. “If
his plan proceeds, the census
won’t be a true portrait of Ameri-
ca, and every state and communi-
ty will have to live for 10 years
under the harm of an unfinished
count.”
[email protected]
[email protected]Census Bureau may end count a month earlier than planned, o∞cials say
ANDREW HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Steven Dillingham, director of the Census Bureau, wears a mask as he arrives to testify at a House
Oversight Committee hearing on the 2020 Census on Wednesday.Civil rights groups say
earlier deadline would
affect accuracy of resultsBY ADAM TAYLOR,
NICK MIROFF
AND DAVID A. FAHRENTHOLDportland, ore. — This city’s
battle-scarred downtown was
calm much of Friday after federal
agents withdrew from the streets
where they had faced off with
protesters for days, though doz-
ens remained stationed down-
town to respond to any further
violence.
The agents, who had been post-
ed at a federal courthouse that
protesters had targeted with graf-
fiti and fire, moved to other
downtown locations, held in re-
serve under a deal between Or-
egon Gov. K ate Brown (D) and the
Trump administration. Amid crit-
icism of the federal officers’ tac-
tics, local and state police who
took their place at the courthouse
were far less aggressive — largely
staying out of sight Thursday
night, making no arrests and fir-
ing no tear gas.
In moments reminiscent of the
once-nightly clashes, a few pro-
testers threw rocks or fireworks
at the empty space where federal
agents had stood. But the crowds
were largely peaceful Thursday
night into Friday, listening to
speeches about police brutality
and racism and chatting on the
grass.
“Federal troops left downtown.
Local officials protected free
speech,” Brown wrote on Twitter.
“A nd Oregonians spoke out for
Black Lives Matter, racial justice,
and police accountability
through peaceful, non-violent
protest.”
The Department of Homeland
Security is keeping more than 130
federal agents stationed near the
courthouse as a “quick reaction
force,” in case protests turn vio-
lent again, according to an inter-
nal DHS document reviewed by
The Washington Post.
A senior Homeland Security
official said the department was
pleased with the first night after
agents’ withdrawal but would
wait until the weekend, at least,
before leaving Portland altogeth-
er.
Among protesters, many
feared that the peace was only
temporary, noting that their con-
cerns about racism and police
brutality in the city predated the
arrival of the federal agents.
But some felt a sense of accom-
plishment and said they hope the
calm will last.
“Trump’s keystone cops abso-
lutely lost. They retreated,” said
Peter Buck, a 74-year-old lawyer
who had been traveling to Port-
land from Olympia for vigils and
marches, using a leaf blower to
send tear gas away from protest-
ers.
The protests at Portland’s
courthouse began weeks ago, dur-
ing the national movement that
followed the death of George
Floyd in police custody in Minne-
apolis. The Portland protests
gained national attention be-
cause of the aggressive tactics
used by camouflage-clad federal
agents, who were seen on video
grabbing protesters off the street
and driving them away in un-
marked vans.
The Trump administration
said these tactics were necessary
to stop people who had vandal-
ized the federal courthouse.
But the protests became bigger
and more violent with federal
agents’ presence. For days, the
fence around the courthouse was
the scene of nightly street battles,as some protesters threw rocks,
fireworks and cans, and officers
responded with rubber bullets,
tear gas and charges into the
crowd.
Under the terms of the deal
struck by Brown and the Trump
administration, Portland police
and Oregon state troopers took
over most security duties near the
courthouse. But t he “quick reac-
tion force” is intended to rush in if
the state police need help, accord-
ing to the Department of Home-
land Security document.
The document says there are
still more than 150 Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) person-
nel — including the 130 membersof the quick-reaction force — in
the Portland area. Among them
are more than 110 Border Patrol
agents, more than 30 members of
Special Response Teams and
more than a half-dozen air sup-
port specialists. The figures do
not include additional personnel
from the U.S. Marshals Service,
part of the Justice Department,
and the Federal Protective Serv-
ice, another arm of DHS.
The CBP’s quick-reaction force
is divided between two locations,
both within 20 minutes of the
courthouse. Nearly 100 CBP
agents are stationed at one of the
holding sites, while 35 more are at
another site, according to thedocument.
The quick-reaction force’s in-
structions are to respond only to
“major” felonies, including at-
tempts to breach courthouse se-
curity or block the exits. Oregon
State Police have assigned 80 offi-
cers to the courthouse protests,
and state authorities will have
primary responsibility for deal-
ing with any incidents, according
to the document.
On Thursday night, the state
police officers remained confined
to the courthouse, occasionally
looking out at the protests.
Some demonstrators said that
without a notable police pres-
ence, the crowd had a different
atmosphere. “It’s much more low-
key and a bit more subdued,” said
Shannon Echavarria, a 53-year-
old pet-care professional, on
Thursday evening. “Normally by
this time, people would be bang-
ing on that fence. There’d be
fireworks. They’d be pouring de-
bris over.”
The shift in tone was “100 per-
cent because the feds are leaving,”
Echavarria said.
But the change seemed to takesome protesters by surprise.
Many had arrived wearing hel-
mets and gas masks, but found
themselves sitting on the grass in
the park near the courthouse.
“Looks like there won’t be
much of a battle tonight,” one
man said at midnight to a group
of shield-wielding protesters.
Minutes later, a small fire was
started inside the cordoned-off
area outside the courthouse,
though protesters quickly put it
out before it could spread.
Outside the federal courthouse
Friday afternoon, a handful of
state police officers, wearing their
trademark campaign-style hats,
stood behind a metal fence, ob-
serving the scene. A marked car
for the Federal Protective Service
sat behind the building.
In the adjacent Lownsdale
Square, which had been cleared
by city police early Thursday
morning, several tents had al-
ready been installed again. The
park’s central statue, a monu-
ment to Oregonians who died
during the 1898 Spanish-Ameri-
can War, scrubbed clean by city
workers Thursday, was again
graffitied.
Some protesters suggested that
a safer environment could draw
larger crowds, including families
and teenagers, downtown.
Adia Jones, a 17-year-old stu-
dent who has been helping orga-
nize a popular youth-led event in
Northeast Portland called
Fridays4Freedom, said Friday
that many of her peers had not
been able to regularly attend pro-
tests downtown because of safety
fears.
“A big concern on our part is
safety,” Jones said, adding that
she had been tear-gassed three
times when she went to the court-
house Wednesday evening.
But Jones and her fellow orga-
nizer, 16-year-old Aslan Newson,
emphasized that they did not
oppose anyone protesting howev-
er they wanted.
“We are for full abolition of
police. Until we see that, we are
not going to stop,” said Jones.
“Once those demands are met, we
will evaluate.”
Some demonstrators remain
wary of the state and local police
as well, recalling that city police
had used tear gas to dispel pro-
testers long before federal officers
arrived. Others noted that Trump
on Thursday warned that he
could call in the National Guard.
But most protesters welcomed
the calm and believed that Port-
land’s protests would keep their
momentum.
“That will draw families back
to the protests. Ultimately, while
we wanted the feds out, this was
really about Black Lives Matter,”
Echavarria said.
As the crowd lingered toward
the end of the night, a freestyling
rapper named No Shoes said that
the time was right to just focus on
having fun.
“I think this might be the first
time we didn’t get gassed,” he told
his audience.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]Calm returns to Portland as federal agents withdraw
PHOTOS BY CAITLIN OCHS/REUTERSABOVE: Federal law
enforcement officers keep
watch at a garage door at the
U.S. courthouse in Portland,
Ore. Under an agreement with
the governor, about 130 federal
agents will remain in the city as
a “quick reaction force,” able to
return to the courthouse if local
authorities need help. LEFT:
The atmosphere at Thursday
night’s protest was more
subdued as the police presence
shrank. “I think this might be
the first time we didn’t get
gassed,” one attendee said.Local, state agencies take
over security, but some
U.S. officers stay close by