Trump Demands a New Census That Excludes Unauthorized Residents

President Trump on Thursday announced he had instructed the Commerce Department to “immediately” begin working on a new census.

The big picture: The development comes as the White House is pushing red states to draw new congressional maps more favorable to Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms. The Constitution requires the census every 10 years to apportion congressional districts.

Driving the news: Trump, in a Thursday Truth Social post, called for a “new and highly accurate” census {snip}

• He added that “[p]eople who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.”

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Zoom in: All people, both citizens and noncitizens, with a “usual residence” in the U.S. are counted in the resident population for the census.

• A Pew Research Center analysis found that if unauthorized immigrants were excluded from the 2020 apportionment count, three states could have each lost a congressional seat.

Flashback: Trump in his first term similarly tried to omit unauthorized immigrants from population counts and attempted to add a citizenship question to the census (an effort ultimately blocked by the Supreme Court).

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