The move paves the way for President Donald Trump to name a new Census Bureau director.
U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos confirmed he is resigning, clearing the way for President Donald Trump to change the agency’s leadership.
Santos, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said in a letter Thursday evening that he made the decision “after deep reflection.” Santos, who was sworn in as the bureau’s 26th director in 2022, said in his letter that he planned to spend time with his family in retirement. His term, which lasts five years, was slated to end in 2027.
On Thursday, Santos released a short statement on LinkedIn in response to an NPR article that reported he would be resigning from his position. “It’s been such an honor to serve our nation,” he wrote, although his profile still says that he is presently the head of the Census Bureau.
The Epoch Times contacted the Census Bureau’s public information office for comment on Friday.
Before joining the Census Bureau, Santos was a vice president and chief methodologist at the liberal-leaning Urban Institute and had spent four decades in survey research, statistical design, and analysis, and executive-level management.
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.
