US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he has instructed his administration to start work on a “new” census that excludes undocumented immigrants from the population count.
In a post on Truth Social,
the US President said that the population count should be “based on modern-day facts and figures” and results of the 2024 presidential election.
“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,” he said in the post.
Trump stressed that as part of the changes, people in “our country living illegally” will be excluded from census counts.
“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS,” he added.
This proposal would mark a dramatic shift from longstanding census practices, potentially affecting congressional representation, federal funding allocations, and policy planning. In the past, the survey has counted all residents regardless of their immigration status.
The announcement came amid growing pressure from the White House for Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps in a way that could strengthen the GOP going into the 2026 midterms, CNN reported.
According to Article I of the US Constitution, it is mandatory to conduct a national census every ten years to determine congressional representation. The census website states it is “designed to count every resident in the United States.”
Since assuming the Presidential office in January 2025, Trump has amped up efforts to deport immigrants living illegally in the US.
Trump’s latest directive is also consistent with broader efforts to reshape the federal government’s statistical infrastructure. Last week, he dismissed Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after revised jobs data showed weaker hiring than previously reported for May and June – undermining Trump’s narrative of a booming economy.
Trump previously attempted to change the 2020 Census during his first term, repeatedly saying he would continue fighting to insert a citizenship question into the 2020 census, despite the Supreme Court blocking the effort.
Trump then retreated from his quest, instead asking government agencies to provide records that could determine a head count of citizens without polling census-takers directly.
Former President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s exclusion policy with an executive order upon taking office in 2021.
(With inputs from agencies)
