- Trump Orders Census to Exclude Undocumented Immigrants
- …Ignites Political Firestorm
- Texas Republicans move to reshape voting boundaries
United States President Donald Trump has instructed the Commerce Department to start developing a new national census that will exclude undocumented immigrants, rekindling debates over representation and redistricting across the country.
Eko Hot Blog reports that in a social media post on Thursday, Trump said the new census must be “highly accurate” and based on “modern day facts and figures,” including information gathered from the 2024 presidential election. He declared that individuals “in our country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.”
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This announcement comes as redistricting disputes intensify nationwide.
The United States Census Bureau, which for more than two centuries has collected data from all residents regardless of immigration status, plays a crucial role in determining how the 435 seats in the House of Representatives are distributed every ten years.
Trump’s order follows a growing standoff in Texas, where Republicans are advancing a proposed congressional map that could give them three to five more House seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
In protest, Democratic lawmakers left the state to block a vote by denying a quorum.
In response, Republican Governor Greg Abbott ordered their arrest and petitioned the state’s Supreme Court to remove a key House Democrat from office.
While Texas Republicans move to reshape voting boundaries, Democrats in states such as New York and California are threatening countermeasures.
Governors Kathy Hochul and Gavin Newsom have both signaled they may challenge the current use of independent redistricting commissions in their states to give Democrats a political advantage.
With only three seats needed to regain control of the United States House, both parties are considering legal and legislative strategies to redraw congressional maps before 2026.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance visited Indiana on Thursday to meet Republican leaders and discuss redistricting.
During his first term, Trump sought to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, but in 2019 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the move violated federal law.
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