"The participation of undocumented immigrants will ultimately be irrelevant," Ho argued.
Absent an order to extend the census count -- the subject of other lawsuits -- it is set to end this month.
One of the three judges considering the New York case drew the government attorneys into a heated exchange after he asked them, "I wonder why we have to wait?"
Judge Richard Wesley pressed Joshi on how the government could determine who is and who isn't a citizen, given that a citizenship question was not included on the census: "Where is he getting the data from? Where is he getting the data from? He's not getting the numbers from the Census Bureau data, is he?"
When Joshi explained that the Census Bureau "maintains administrative records," or data collected from other agencies, Wesley scolded him, directing him to "answer my question with respect, please."
Joshi ultimately conceded that the government is not currently distinguishing between citizens and noncitizens when counting people.
He said that Ross would present to Trump two sets of numbers at the same time: one, a count including the entire population, and the second, a count excluding undocumented immigrants.
"The secretary is providing both numbers in parallel rather than in serial," he explained.
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