President Donald Trump announced a directive on Thursday instructing the Commerce Department to revise U.S. Census Bureau data collection methods to exclude undocumented immigrants from population counts.
The announcement, made via Truth Social, emphasized using “modern day facts and figures” and data from the 2024 Presidential Election to guide the process.
This move seeks to exclude individuals “in our Country illegally” from census figures, which determine congressional representation, Electoral College votes, and the allocation of $2.8 trillion in federal funding for state programs like roads and healthcare.
The proposed changes face significant hurdles, as the 14th Amendment mandates counting “the whole number of persons” in each state for apportionment purposes.
Experts question the feasibility of Trump’s plan, noting that any census overhaul requires Congressional approval under the Census Act.
Terri Ann Lowenthal, a census consultant and former congressional staffer, stated, “He cannot unilaterally order a new census. The census is governed by law, not to mention the Constitution.”
Jeffrey Wice, a census and redistricting expert at New York Law School, added, “This isn’t something that you can do overnight,” highlighting the logistical complexities of conducting a mid-decade census.
Trump’s directive aligns with efforts to influence political representation, particularly in states with large non-citizen populations like California, Texas, and New York, which could lose congressional seats and federal resources if undocumented immigrants are excluded.
Republican lawmakers, such as Senator Bill Hagerty, have supported similar measures, with Hagerty’s Equal Representation Act pushing for citizen-only counts to reshape congressional and electoral apportionment.
The 2020 census, deemed accurate with a net error rate of -0.24% by the Census Bureau, faced similar attempts by Trump to exclude undocumented immigrants, which were blocked by courts and reversed by the Biden administration.
The directive also coincides with Trump’s broader agenda, including pressuring Republican-led states like Texas to redraw congressional maps to favor GOP candidates, citing population growth as justification.
Legal challenges are expected, as previous attempts to alter census counts were deemed unconstitutional, and the logistical demands of a mid-decade census remain daunting.