Trump says undocumented immigrants will not be counted in new US Census | Donald Trump News
US president says he directed the Commerce Department to immediately work on a ‘new and highly accurate’ survey.
Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has said that he directed officials to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted in the Census – a survey of the US population conducted every 10 years.
Trump said he directed the Commerce Department, which oversees the US Census Bureau, to immediately work on “new and highly accurate” survey based on “modern day facts and figures” and the results of the 2024 elections.
“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The next Census is due in 2030, but it is not clear if Trump is calling for a new survey in the near future.
During his first term, the US president tried to add a citizenship question to the Census, but his efforts were blocked by the courts.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the US administration failed to provide a “reasoned” explanation for adding the question.
This time, however, if Trump’s Census policy is challenged legally, it could go before a more conservative Supreme Court.
Trump appointed three justices serving on the court currently.
Critics say excluding undocumented immigrants from the Census would violate the US Constitution, deprive local communities of needed federal resources and distort the data used by scientists and researchers.
The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution says that congressional representation should be based on “counting the whole number of persons in each state”.
The Census already includes undocumented immigrants in the “hard to count” category.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 7, 2025
States use census data to draw congressional districts.
A 2023 report by the bureau found that the 2020 Census likely failed “in collecting data for a significant fraction of noncitizens residing” in the country.
On Thursday, several Democrats slammed Trump’s decision as unconstitutional.
“The Constitution mandates a census every ten years that counts every single person in the country, regardless of their citizenship status,” Congressman Jerrold Nadler wrote in a social media post.
“When Trump tried to do this in 2020, the courts flat out rejected it. The Constitution is plain and simple: ‘whole number of persons.’”
Republicans defended the decision, arguing that counting undocumented immigrants rewards states that foster them and distorts congressional representation.
“‘We the People’ means citizens, not invaders,” Congressman Mark Harris said on X, invoking the preamble of the US Constitution.
“Counting illegal aliens in the census disenfranchises Americans and rewards blue states for breaking the law. Let’s get a recount — ASAP!!”
If conducted in 2030, the next Census will be conducted by Trump’s successor, but preparations for the survey start well ahead of time.