United States: On Thursday morning, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he has ordered the Commerce Department to begin work on a new national census—one that, notably, will exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted.
“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,” Trump wrote.
He added pointedly:
“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!“
The United States conducts a formal census every ten years, with the most recent held in 2020 and the next scheduled for 2030. The results are pivotal, as they determine the number of seats each state receives in the US House of Representatives and the number of electoral votes each state carries in presidential elections, according to Fox News.
That’s because the census decides the “apportionment” of congressional representation. More residents mean more power in Washington — fewer residents, less political clout.
The US Constitution’s 14th Amendment states:
“Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.”
For decades, the US Census Bureau has interpreted this language to mean that all residents—regardless of citizenship status—are included in the count, so long as they have a “usual residence” in the country.
A page on the Census Bureau’s official website confirms this:
“All people (citizens and noncitizens) with a usual residence in the United States are included in the resident population for the census.”
This is not the first time Trump has attempted to alter the way the census operates. During his first term, in 2020, he signed a memo seeking to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census count used to assign House seats. That order faced legal challenges and was ultimately blocked.
President Joe Biden later reversed Trump’s 2020 order with an executive order in 2021, reinforcing the traditional practice of counting every person regardless of immigration status.
However, with Trump back in office, that executive order has now been revoked, as reported by Fox News.
While Trump’s latest move is sure to spark fresh legal and political battles, his supporters argue that excluding undocumented immigrants makes the census more accurate and fair for legal residents.
Critics, however, are expected to challenge the move, citing constitutional language, court precedent, and concerns about disenfranchisement in heavily immigrant-populated states.
As the Commerce Department begins its work on this proposed “new census,” the debate over who gets counted—and who doesn’t—is poised to return to the forefront of national politics.
