Anna Hartz
New Trump Plan Could Change How America Counts Its Population
Counting people has always been a sensitive task in America. The census is not just about numbers.
It shapes political power, federal funding, and how communities are represented in Congress.
Every decade, the country takes on the challenge of counting everyone, no matter their background or immigration status. That rule has stood for centuries.
Now, President Donald Trump is pushing to change it, according to the Washington Post.
A New Way to Count Its Population
On Thursday, Trump announced he wants a new census that would exclude people in the country illegally.
He made the statement on Truth Social, saying he had instructed the Department of Commerce to begin work on what he called a “highly accurate” count based on “modern day facts and figures.” It is unclear if he means to start one immediately or prepare changes for the 2030 census.
By law, the census happens every ten years. It last took place in 2020. The Constitution requires that all people in the United States be counted.
This includes those without legal status. A White House spokesperson and the Census Bureau did not respond to questions about Trump’s order.
Trump linked his plan to redistricting, the process of dividing congressional seats. He argues that Republicans are losing political ground because undocumented immigrants are counted.
Excluding them could shift seats away from states with large immigrant populations, often Democratic strongholds.
Legal Challenges in the Way
A Pew Research Center study in 2020 found that California, Florida, and Texas could each lose one seat if undocumented people were not counted.
Other states, like Alabama, Minnesota, and Ohio, would keep seats they might otherwise lose.
This is not Trump’s first attempt to change the census. In his first term, his administration tried to add a citizenship question to the 2020 count. The Supreme Court blocked it, calling the reason for the change “contrived.”
The Trump administration also explored ways to exclude undocumented immigrants, but legal challenges stopped the effort.
Any new attempt would almost certainly face lawsuits. The Constitution says the census must occur every ten years, and the 14th Amendment requires states to count the “whole number of persons.”
Civil rights groups, including the ACLU, say they are prepared to fight the move in court.
Whether Trump succeeds or not, his influence over the 2030 census could still be significant. Planning for it will happen before he leaves office in 2029.
