US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he has directed the Department of Commerce to begin work on a new American census — one that would exclude undocumented immigrants from the population count.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, “I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024.”
“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS,” Trump wrote.
If implemented, this move would mark a significant departure from long-standing census data the estimates for which currently include all residents, regardless of citizenship or immigration status.
Why This Matters
The US Constitution, the report said, requires a national census every ten years, counting the “whole Number of free Persons.” It includes all residents, not just citizens, and the results are subsequently used to determine congressional representation and allocate federal funding.
According to the US Census Bureau, the purpose of the census is to “count every resident in the United States.” Analysts, meanwhile, say that any change in methodology could shift the political balance in Congress and impact billions in funding for schools, healthcare and infrastructure.
A Repeat Attempt
This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to change how the census is conducted. During his first term in office, he pushed to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, insisting that it was needed to enforce voting rights laws. However, the US Supreme Court blocked the move, with opponents saying that it would scare off participation from minority and immigrant communities, including legal residents, and consequently resulting in undercounts.
After backing off the citizenship question in 2019, Trump instead ordered federal agencies to provide data on citizenship status through administrative records.
Trump’s ‘Mistrust’ of Non-partisan Govt Data Sources
The US President’s latest remarks comes amid mounting pressure on Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms, potentially strengthening the GOP’s electoral edge.
It also follows his recent firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whom Trump had accused, without evidence, of manipulating job reports for political purposes, in yet another instance of what many say is his apparent mistrust of non-partisan government data sources.
