U.S. News
Trump Calls for New Census
By Jake Beardslee · August 7, 2025
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is ordering a new national census, which he claimed would be “highly accurate” and based on “information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024.” In a Truth Social post, Trump emphasized that “people who are in our country illegally will NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.”
This proposal marks a radical departure from standard procedure. The U.S. Constitution mandates a nationwide census every 10 years—most recently in 2020—counting all people regardless of immigration status. A mid-decade count, especially one that excludes undocumented residents, would be unprecedented and faces immense legal and logistical obstacles.
The results of the census are critical for determining how congressional seats are distributed among states and how federal funds are allocated. Traditionally, apportionment figures have included all residents, regardless of citizenship status. Trump previously attempted to add a citizenship question during his first term, but the Supreme Court blocked it in 2019 on procedural grounds.
If noncitizens were excluded from the census, some states—such as California and Texas—could lose congressional representation, according to a 2020 Pew Research Center analysis.
Legal experts say initiating a census outside the regular 10-year cycle would likely be met with lawsuits. The planning process for the 2030 census is already underway, and federal law requires any census questions to be submitted to Congress at least two years in advance. Trump’s term ends in 2029, meaning he could still influence the 2030 count if reelected.
Republican leaders, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have voiced support for redoing the census, claiming the 2020 version was flawed. That count, conducted largely during Trump’s first term, was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and delayed until early 2021, when President Biden was in office. Trump’s prior attempt to remove undocumented individuals from apportionment totals was ultimately abandoned after the delay.
The Census Bureau acknowledged in a 2022 report that the 2020 count had demographic imbalances—undercounting Black, Hispanic, and Native American populations, while overcounting white and Asian populations. Some of these inaccuracies are standard, but the pandemic likely worsened them.
The January resignation of Census Bureau Director Robert Santos, a Biden appointee, has also given Trump an opportunity to appoint a new leader to the agency, though no nominee has yet been named.
The announcement also arrives during a tense period of redistricting battles across the country. Trump has publicly encouraged Republican-led states like Texas to redraw congressional maps to secure GOP control, asserting Republicans are “entitled” to those seats. Democrats have pledged to counter with similar tactics in blue states.
While the logistics remain unclear, any effort to conduct a mid-decade census or exclude undocumented individuals from the count will face strong opposition and potentially years of court battles.