President Trump announced Thursday that he had ordered a rare, mid-decade census to exclude illegal immigrants — as a gerrymandering war between Republicans and Democrats heats up.
“I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.”
The Constitution stipulates that apportionment of congressional districts “shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons,” which most scholars interpret as requiring the federal government to count legal and illegal immigrants as well as natural-born Americans.
Currently, the US Census Bureau “collects data from all foreign-born who participate in its censuses and surveys, regardless of legal status.”
The decennial counts are critical for determining how the 435 seats in the House of Representatives are allocated. Every decade after a census is completed, states undergo a redistricting process in which they determine the boundaries of their congressional districts.
The Constitution requires a census every 10 years, but there have been rare occasions, such as the 1970s, when mid-decade national headcounts were pursued. In most cases, such as the 1975 attempt, the effort for a mid-decade count was dropped.
Trump’s order for a mid-decade census is likely to face legal challenges from Democrats. In the past, attempts at inter-decennial headcounts were authorized by Congress, not by presidents unilaterally. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images |
The most recent census was in 2020
President Donald Trump declared in a Thursday morning Truth Social post that he has directed the Commerce Department to start working on a new census, noting that illegal aliens in the U.S. will not be included in the population count.
"I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024," the president said in the post.
"People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" he added.
The U.S. conducts a census every decade — the last decennial census was conducted in 2020 and another is scheduled for 2030.
The decennial census is key to determining the balance of political power each state holds, because the population counts are used in apportionment, the determination of how many seats each state gets in the House of Representatives. --->READ MORE HERE
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