President Donald Trump has ordered a new U.S. census that would exclude illegal immigrants from states’ population totals. For decades, illegal immigrants have been included in states’ census numbers, which results in states with high non-citizen populations getting more seats in the House of Representatives than they otherwise would.
In a statement posted on Truth Social Thursday, Trump announced that he has “instructed our Department of Commerce to 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.” The president vowed that “People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.”
Trump’s post on social media comes five years after the 2020 U.S. census and five years before the scheduled 2030 U.S. census. Figures obtained in the 2020 census were used to apportion the 435 seats in the House and the 538 votes in the Electoral College, which is used to elect the president.
A new census could result in states seeing their representation in both the House and the Electoral College decrease or increase based on the most recent population figures. Trump did not provide a timeline regarding when the new census would be conducted, leaving it unclear if it would be completed in time for next year’s midterm elections.
The U.S. Constitution, as amended by the 14th Amendment, declares that “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State.” The Constitution, drafted in 1787, authorized the first Census to he held “within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten years.”
The first U.S. census took place in 1790 and has been conducted every year ending with the number “0” since. The Constitution does not explicitly prohibit additional censuses from taking place.
Trump’s social media post comes as members of Congress have introduced legislation that would exclude illegal immigrants from the census. The Equal Representation Act, which has 62 co-sponsors in the House and 18 co-sponsors in the Senate, would require all censuses beginning with the 2030 census to include a question asking respondents about their citizenship status and exclude non-citizens from the apportionment population.
A bill titled the Making American Elections Great Again Act authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to conduct a new census excluding non-citizens immediately after its passage.
The paths to passage for both pieces of legislation look difficult in light of the partisan makeup of Congress. The measures would likely only receive support from Republicans, who make up majorities in both the House and Senate. However, most legislation requires 60 votes to pass the Senate and Republicans only have 53 seats. Democrats remain steadfastly opposed to any effort to exclude non-citizens from the census.
An analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, based on figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey from 2008-2023, estimates the non-citizen population at over 22 million nationwide. California, Florida, New York and Texas each have more than 1 million resident illegals, meaning that those states would certainly lose representation in the House and the Electoral College if a new census excluding non-citizens is conducted.
Any effort to conduct a census excluding non-citizens from the apportionment population will likely face legal challenges, as the Trump administration’s previous attempts to include a citizenship question on the census did ahead of the 2020 census.
In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a challenge to the inclusion of the citizenship question on procedural grounds, concluding that the Secretary of Commerce has the authority to include a citizenship question on the census.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
