Trump orders new census to exclude illegal immigrants

Donald Trump ordered the Commerce Department to “immediately” begin work on implementing a new census that excludes undocumented immigrants from the count. The census count currently counts everyone living on U.S. soil, regardless of their legal immigration status.

Trump made the announcement on his social media platforms, claiming that the new population count would be “highly accurate” and “based on modern-day facts and figures,” particularly “the results and information gained from the 2024 Presidential Election.”

Echoing the announcement, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that the president backed her Make Elections Great Again bill, which would require proof of citizenship to vote. “Congress must pass my bill so that American citizens ONLY will be represented in Congress!” she declared.

The Constitution mandates that an "Enumeration" be conducted every ten years to determine the allocation of House seats for each state and to guide the distribution of federal funds.

The census also serves as a guide for shaping other federal, state, and local government policies. Because the data is public, it is also widely used by businesses and individuals for private purposes.

Census data is also used to draw legislative district boundaries—an increasingly contentious issue in U.S. politics. The matter gained national attention after Democratic lawmakers from Texas fled the state in an effort to block a Republican-led redistricting plan.

This is not the first time Trump has promoted a similar measure, nor the GOP. Among other initiatives as Greene's bill, introduced in July, the party managed to pass a proposal in the House to verify census takers’ citizenship and, if he or she does not possess it, exclude him or her from the count for the apportionment of seats.

The Equal Representation Act was stalled in the Democratic-majority Senate. At the time, Republicans justified the measure with fears that the immigration crisis would change the electoral maps to the benefit of the Democratic Party, as well as the suspicion that the Biden administration could push for mass regularization, allowing them to vote: