President Donald Trump has ignited a fierce national debate with his latest directive: a new U.S. census that would exclude undocumented immigrants from population counts used to apportion congressional seats and allocate federal funding. The announcement, made on August 7, 2025 via Trump’s Truth Social account, marks a dramatic escalation in Republican efforts to reshape the nation’s political landscape—and could have sweeping consequences for states with large immigrant populations.
“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS,” Trump declared in his post, instructing the 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.” According to Time, this move comes five years after the last decennial census and five years ahead of the next scheduled count in 2030, raising questions about both the timing and the legality of an unscheduled census.
The U.S. Constitution, as amended by the 14th Amendment, requires a count of the “whole number of persons in each State” every ten years to determine the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives. Historically, this has meant counting every resident, regardless of citizenship status. The census also guides the distribution of billions in federal funding for healthcare, education, and infrastructure. But Trump’s directive would mark a sharp break from that tradition, potentially shifting power and resources away from states with higher numbers of undocumented immigrants—namely California, Texas, Florida, and New York.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, there are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., with Texas and California alone accounting for about 42 percent of that population. The Kaiser Family Foundation, analyzing U.S. Census Bureau data, puts the non-citizen figure even higher, at over 22 million nationwide. Excluding these residents from the census could result in states like California, Florida, New York, and Texas each losing at least one seat in the House and a corresponding vote in the Electoral College, as reported by The Christian Post and Time.
The political stakes are enormous. Trump’s push comes amid a broader Republican campaign to redraw congressional maps in their favor, with Texas at the epicenter. State Democrats have fled to Illinois, New York, and other blue states to stall a Republican plan that would add about five new GOP seats in Texas. Trump, in an interview with CNBC, argued, “We should have many more seats in California. It’s all gerrymandered. I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats.” In response, the governors of New York and California have said they’re exploring their own redistricting efforts.
Efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census are not new. During his first term, Trump issued a memo seeking to remove immigrants without lawful status from the population count used for House apportionment and repeatedly tried to add a citizenship question to the census for the first time since 1950. Both moves faced fierce criticism and were ultimately blocked or delayed by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2019, the Court ruled against adding the citizenship question, citing insufficient justification from the administration. A year later, it deemed legal challenges to the exclusion of undocumented immigrants “premature” but noted the government could not feasibly implement such a policy at that time.
After taking office, President Joe Biden quickly revoked Trump’s memo and reaffirmed the long-standing practice of counting all residents. But Trump reversed Biden’s order upon returning to the White House in January 2025, setting the stage for the current showdown. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have introduced several bills—such as the Equal Representation Act and the Making American Elections Great Again Act—that would require the census to count only U.S. citizens or authorize a new census excluding non-citizens. The Equal Representation Act boasts 62 House and 18 Senate co-sponsors, but its path to passage is uncertain given the partisan divide in Congress and the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for most legislation.
Democrats remain staunchly opposed to any effort to exclude non-citizens. They argue that the Constitution’s clear language requires counting all persons, not just citizens, and warn that such a drastic change would disenfranchise millions, skew representation, and reduce federal funding for critical services in affected states. According to Time, a 2020 Pew Research Center analysis showed that excluding undocumented immigrants from the census would have caused Texas, California, and Florida each to lose a congressional seat based on that year’s numbers.
Legal challenges are all but certain. At least four Republican state attorneys filed a lawsuit in January 2025 seeking to exclude undocumented people from the census count. However, the case was paused by a judge in March at the Trump administration’s request, as officials said they needed more time to determine how to proceed. Previous Supreme Court decisions have left the door open to further litigation, and any attempt to conduct a new census or change apportionment rules is likely to face intense judicial scrutiny.
The practical implications of a new census are daunting. The decennial census typically requires years of preparation and a vast temporary workforce to reach every household. The process is not just a bureaucratic exercise; it’s a logistical and civic undertaking with profound effects on representation and resources. Conducting an unscheduled census, as Trump proposes, would be unprecedented and logistically complex, with no clear timeline provided for when it might take place or whether it could influence the upcoming midterm elections.
The debate has also spilled into the broader political and economic context of Trump’s second term. While the census fight is front and center, the administration is grappling with low approval ratings, economic headwinds, and partisan gridlock. Recent polls, as cited by The Christian Post, show that only about a quarter of Americans feel Trump’s policies have helped them, with many expressing skepticism about his effectiveness as a chief executive. These broader challenges may shape the public’s perception of the census initiative—and its potential fallout.
For now, the nation waits as legal experts, lawmakers, and advocacy groups gear up for what promises to be a high-stakes battle over the future of political representation in America. Trump’s move has energized both supporters, who see it as a long-overdue correction, and opponents, who warn of disenfranchisement and constitutional overreach. With the 2026 midterms on the horizon and the next scheduled census still five years away, the outcome of this latest clash could reshape American politics for a generation.
As the dust settles, one thing is clear: the fight over who gets counted is about far more than numbers—it’s about the very nature of American democracy and who gets a voice in it.
