President Trump announced Thursday that he 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.”
Typically, the US Census Bureau “collects data from all foreign-born who participate in its censuses and surveys, regardless of legal status.”
Censuses 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 seats.
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.
During his first administration, Trump attempted to add a citizenship question to the census, but ultimately, his team withdrew it due to legal challenges.
The last census, conducted for 2020, undercounted significantly in many red states like Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas, while overcounting many blue states like Delaware, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.
Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon and Texas gained seats during the last census, while California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia lost seats.
That proved to be a slight net boost for Republicans heading into the redistricting process before the 2022 midterm elections.
But now both parties are revisiting the redistricting process — about half a decade earlier than usual — as Trump looks for ways to overcome historical headwinds and cling to the GOP’s razor-thin House majority.
Last month, a redistricting arms race erupted after Texas Republicans began taking steps toward reconfiguring the state’s congressional map to potentially squeeze out five more seats for the party. Trump endorsed that move.
Texas Democrats foiled that plan — for now — by fleeing the state in the middle of a special session to block Republicans from passing the new map.
Blue state officials, including those in California, New York, and elsewhere, have since threatened to overhaul their congressional maps in response.
That’s led Republicans to float the possibility of redistricting in additional places like Missouri and Indiana, where Vice President JD Vance is set to visit later in the day on Thursday.
Historically, the party that controls the White House takes a political beating during midterm elections.
Trump is desperately looking to avoid that fate, as it will dramatically diminish his power and all but guarantee an onslaught of Democratic investigations during his final two years in office.
