President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he’s ordered a new census that does not include people who are “in our country illegally.” Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump Thursday posted on Truth Social that he has directed the U.S. Department of Commerce to work on a new census that doesn’t count people who are “in our country illegally.”
“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. People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” the Truth Social post said.
The post did not specify exactly what he meant by those here “illegally” or information gained from the election.
In Trump’s first term, he tried to change the census questionnaire to ask a question about citizenship status. But the Supreme Court blocked it, saying the administration did not provide adequate grounds for adding the question and called the government’s argument “contrived.” The American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the question in New York federal court and the Supreme Court.
Thursday’s declaration comes as Trump continues his push to make Republican-leaning states redraw their districts to make them more favorable to U.S. House of Representatives candidates before the 2026 midterms.
The fight in Texas has created a showdown between the state’s elected Democrats and Republicans, with the Democrats fleeing the state to deny Republicans the minimum number of lawmakers necessary to pass legislation. The passage of congressional maps, supported by Trump, would reportedly lock in five GOP seats to the House.
According to the Census Bureau’s website, “The census tells us who we are and where we are going as a nation and helps our communities determine where to build everything from schools to supermarkets, and from homes to hospitals.”
The decennial U.S. Census is designed to count every resident in the United States and is mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the Census site says.
