Census to track dual citizens by country, creating federal registry
H.R. 6486 — MACA Act · Filed by Abraham Hamadeh (R-AZ) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Dec 5, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the U.S. Census Bureau to add a question to the decennial census (starting in 2030) asking households whether any member holds dual citizenship with another country, and if so, which country. The bill amends federal census law to make this question mandatory in all future decennial censuses.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to amend census law to require collection of dual-citizenship data. It is a straightforward procedural amendment to the decennial census questionnaire, not a policy change to citizenship law itself.
What the text implies
- Creates a permanent federal database of dual citizens indexed by country, potentially enabling future targeting, visa revocation, or security screening based on foreign citizenship status.
- May chill voluntary disclosure: respondents aware of the data collection may refuse to answer or provide false information, reducing census accuracy.
- Establishes precedent for census questions designed to identify and categorize specific population subgroups by national origin or allegiance, expanding the census beyond its traditional demographic and economic purpose.
- The phrase 'Make Allegiances Clear Again' in the short title suggests the bill frames dual citizenship as a loyalty or allegiance issue, which may signal intent to use the data for political or security purposes beyond statistical reporting.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates transparency by collecting citizenship data that may inform policy and public understanding, but it also establishes a federal registry of dual citizens that could enable targeting, discrimination, or surveillance of a specific population. The civic benefit of transparency is offset by the privacy and civil-liberties cost of creating a government inventory of citizens' foreign allegiances.
Named in the bill
Bureau of the Census, U.S. Census Bureau, 13 U.S.C. § 141, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Dec 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Dec 5, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (822 characters) on Aug 17, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Census to track dual citizens by country, creating federal registry” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr6486 Report an error
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