Trump proposes excluding undocumented immigrants from the census to benefit the Republican Party

The president Donald Trump proposed excluding undocumented immigrants from the census in the United States, aiming to alter the political power distribution in favor of the Republican Party.

According to the AP agency, Trump instructed the Department of Commerce to change how the Census Bureau collects data, stating it will rely on "current figures" and the results of the 2024 presidential elections.

Through his network Truth Social, the president stated that the changes would exclude from the count individuals who are “illegally in our country.”

Experts and constitutional scholars have pointed out that Trump's plan may be unfeasible from a legal and logistical standpoint, as conducting a new census requires Congressional approval and is governed by the Census Act and the Constitution, stated AP.

In addition, the census is used to allocate more than 2.8 trillion dollars in federal funds.

"The Constitution states that the total number of people in each state must be counted," recalled Terri Ann Lowenthal, former legislative advisor specializing in census issues.

“Trump cannot unilaterally order a new census. It’s a half-baked idea,” emphasized the cited source.

The announcement is part of a pattern in which Trump has attempted to shape key indicators such as employment and electoral district distribution to his advantage.

In this case, it seeks for Republican-controlled states like Texas, Indiana, or Missouri to redraw their congressional maps earlier than anticipated, which could result in more seats for the party in the 2026 midterm elections.

The proposal also revives its failed attempt from 2019, when it sought to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census, AP recalled.

The Supreme Court blocked that measure after warnings that millions of immigrants and Latinos could be left uncounted, distorting the results.

The last serious attempt to exclude undocumented individuals from the official figures also failed in lower courts.

The Supreme Court avoided making a substantive ruling following Trump's electoral defeat in 2020, leaving the issue in legal limbo.

Meanwhile, the new push regarding the census is already creating tensions between Democrats and Republicans and could lead to new legal challenges.

The Republican governor Ron DeSantis again questioned the 2020 census and proposed to redistrict in his state before the 2026 legislative elections, suggesting that population growth was not accurately reflected.

During an event in Tampa, he stated that Florida should have more representation in Congress, as he believes that the 2020 census underestimated the state's actual growth.

The statements were reported by the specialized outlet Florida Politics, which covered the details of the meeting at the Hillsborough Academy of Math and Science.

DeSantis denounced what he described as "malapportionment" — an imbalance in representation — resulting from a count that was halted in April 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning.

According to him, some officials from the Trump administration mentioned that if the census had been conducted properly, Florida would have gained between three and five additional seats in the House of Representatives.

Although he did not present any technical analysis to support that claim, DeSantis reiterated that his administration is exploring legal and legislative avenues to drive a new redistricting, even without a new census, and that he would view “favorably” any efforts by the state Congress in that direction.

The governor also accused the so-called "blue states" —predominantly Democratic— of artificially inflating their population by including undocumented immigrants in the census count, which he stated is "unconstitutional."

"I was not going to use taxpayers' money for that," he stated, referring to his refusal to finance similar processes in Florida.

At another time, DeSantis suggested that this discrepancy in national representation could have potentially altered the balance of the Electoral College in 2024.

He stated that if the supposed error had not been corrected, Kamala Harris could have won with just three states from the so-called "Rust Belt," which, in his view, would have led to a “constitutional crisis” because “with an accurate census, Trump would have won anyway, even losing those states.”

He also quoted the Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, who—according to DeSantis—shares the belief that "the census was flawed" and that Florida did not receive the seats it was entitled to.

Frequently Asked Questions about Trump's Proposal to Exclude Undocumented Immigrants from the Census