The Trump administration has unveiled plans to change how the U.S. census counts the population by excluding illegal immigrants from the totals that determine congressional representation and federal funding.
This move directly challenges policies implemented during the Biden administration and could shift political power away from heavily populated Democratic states.
Previously, the administration sought a similar change in the 2020 census, but the Supreme Court declined to intervene, ruling the issue premature at the time.
Now, with renewed focus and momentum, the current administration is positioned to pursue this policy with greater determination.
Instead of attempting to bring back the citizenship question, which faced widespread legal opposition in 2020, the administration intends to use federal administrative records to identify individuals living in the country without legal status.
These individuals would then be excluded from the official census count used for apportioning seats in the House and distributing federal resources.
Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, summarized the intent of the initiative, stating, “We’re going to clean up the census and make sure that illegal aliens are not counted.”
Proponents argue that current census methods unfairly inflate population counts in states with large immigrant communities—primarily Democratic strongholds