Democratic White House hopeful Pete Buttigieg Pete ButtigiegBillionaire who donated to Trump in 2016 donates to Biden The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - GOP closes ranks to fill SCOTUS vacancy by November Buttigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice MORE on Thursday slammed reports that President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE is set to issue an executive order to force inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

"This is racially and politically motivated manipulation of the census," the South Bend, Ind., mayor told MSNBC's Craig Melvin. "It makes the whole country worse off. It leads to under-representation. It will lead to an undercount.”

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"And in a community like mine, an industrial Midwest city that is finally growing but would not be seen to be if you netted out immigration, it threatens our ability to get access to resources," he added.

A White House official told The Hill that Trump is planning to announce the executive order during a news conference late Thursday despite the Supreme Court recently blocking the question from being added to the 2020 census.

Any executive action taken by Trump is likely to be met with another round of legal challenges.

After the Supreme Court's decision, Cabinet agencies announced they would move ahead with printing census forms without the question.

That decision was quickly reversed when Trump suddenly ordered the Justice Department to find a way to include the question.

Critics, like Buttigieg, have said the question would result in undercounts of immigrants and minorities.