(Caroline Boda, The Center Square) President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Commerce Thursday to begin working on a new census that won’t count illegal immigrants.
Trump ordered a “new and highly accurate” census to be taken “based on modern day facts and figures.” He did not indicate when the new census would take place but called for Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnik to begin work on it immediately.
As redistricting battles wage across the country ahead of the 2026 midterms, a new census excluding noncitizens has similar capacity to reshape the election.
Nationwide censuses have occurred every 10 years since 1790, with the next tally set to take place in 2030. A key purpose of the census is to take a snapshot of each state’s population to determine how many seats each receives in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Historically, censuses take into account all residents of the U.S., including both citizens and residents of the U.S. without legal status. By excluding noncitizens from the population count, states with high immigrant populations like California and Texas face the possibility of losing seats in the House.
A 2020 Pew Research poll found that California, Texas and Florida would each lose a House seat if noncitizens were excluded from the census count.
Trump’s comments come as Texas and California are leading efforts to redraw their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms, a tactic used to gain seats on one side of the political aisle or the other in the House. Lawmakers are using redistricting as a tool to alter the pool of voters in congressional districts to favor their own party.
Democrats in the Texas state legislature fled the state in protest when Republicans introduced a new congressional map that could flip up to five Democratic seats in the midterms. Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said Thursday that the FBI is tracking down the Democrats who fled in an effort to prevent a vote on the new map.
In retaliation for Texas’ efforts to gain more Republican seats in the House, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signaled he will lead efforts to redraw his own state’s congressional map to favor Democrats. Despite California’s independent redistricting commission, Newsom called on Democrats to “fight fire with fire” if Texas moves ahead with its new map.
