President Donald Trump said Thursday he has directed the Department of Commerce to launch preparations for a new and “highly accurate” national census, according to a post to his Truth Social account.
The president said the count would reflect current information, incorporate data from the 2024 presidential election, and explicitly exclude individuals residing illegally in the U.S.
“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,” his post read. “People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Under the U.S. Constitution and the Census Act, the U.S. Census Bureau is required to conduct a count every 10 years of every resident of the country, regardless of citizenship or legal status.
The next one is not due until 2030, although preparations for the enormous task are already underway.
Trump did not make clear if he was referring to the regularly scheduled population count or a special survey undertaken earlier.
The census is used to determine how many members of Congress are elected from each state, and the Pew Research Center estimates that ignoring unauthorized migrants in 2020 would have deprived California, Florida and Texas of one House seat each.
It is also used for apportioning votes in the state-by-state "electoral college" that decides presidential elections and for allocating trillions of dollars in federal funding.
The Census also the basis for the distribution of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding.
Trump attempted similar moves in his first term, including the addition of a citizenship question to the census, but was blocked by the Supreme Court.
A 2019 effort to alter census methodology was rebuffed by the Supreme Court in Department of Commerce v. New York, which held that the administration’s rationale for adding a citizenship question was arbitrary and capricious. Excluding undocumented residents would represent a departure.
Trump’s order arrives amid ongoing debates over immigration policy and congressional representation after his 2024 election victory.