President Donald J. Trump has announced plans for a new U.S. Census—one that excludes illegal immigrants from the count. The commander-in-chief revealed the initiative in a Truth Social post on Thursday, directing the Department of Commerce to launch efforts for what he called a “new and highly accurate CENSUS.”
“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. “People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
This action could have sweeping implications for the way political representation and federal funding are distributed across the United States. Currently, the Constitution mandates a decennial census to allocate congressional seats among the states. The 14th Amendment requires counting the “whole number of persons in each state”—a phrase that has been interpreted by Democrats to include non-citizens, including those in the country illegally.
Trump’s proposal directly challenges that interpretation, seeking to return control of the census to citizens and lawful residents. Conservatives have long argued that including illegal immigrants in the census unfairly bolsters representation for liberal strongholds with large undocumented populations, distorting congressional districts and inflating federal funding to sanctuary cities at the expense of law-abiding American communities.
The move comes at a time when redistricting battles are heating up nationwide—especially in Texas, where Republican lawmakers are pushing to reshape the electoral map. Democrats there recently staged a high-profile walkout, fleeing the state to delay a GOP-backed redistricting bill that could secure up to five additional congressional seats for conservatives.
This isn’t the first time Trump has sought to reform the census. During his first term, his administration attempted to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census—an effort blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court. While the Court sidestepped ruling on whether a president can legally exclude undocumented immigrants from apportionment counts.
The America First approach Trump is promoting echoes the sentiment of millions of Americans who believe that the voice of the citizen should not be diluted by the presence of those who entered the country illegally.
