President Donald Trump wants the next census to exclude illegal immigrants from the count, Breitbart reported. This issue matters as congressional districts are given representatives based on population, while Democrats import millions of illegal immigrants.
In a post to Truth Social on Thursday, Trump shared that he already has plans in the works to change how the surveys are conducted. "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.
"People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" the president concluded. Although the president has no authority to recount the census, he and other lawmakers can fine-tune how the data is used.
The U.S. Census Bureau conducts its survey once a decade for the entire United States and its five territories. The last census was conducted in 2020, marking the first time the option to complete the census online was available, meaning the next will be due in 2030 after Trump leaves office.
Those counted have always included people who entered the country illegally, but with so many swaying the balance in Congress, Trump believes the time has come to exclude them from assigning representatives. It's long been understood as a Democratic strategy to inflate their influence like this, and the numbers bear that out.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, California, New York, and Texas gained additional seats while Alabama, Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota lost seats due to illegal immigrants in the count. Moreover, there are as many as 22 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S., with an expected rate of one-in-six U.S. residents being foreign-born by 2060.
Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller said on Wednesday's Hannity program on Fox News that Democrats have incorporated this into their strategy. "Democrats have gerrymandered the vote beyond recognition to try and maintain their advantage in the House elections," he told host Sean Hannity.
"Let’s not forget, Democrats rigged the 2020 census by including illegal aliens!" Whether his opinion about the "rigged" census is correct or not, it's an issue that is being addressed by some GOP lawmakers.
According to Fox News, the "Equal Representation Act" was introduced in the Senate in June with heavy Republican support. This legislation would add the question and exclude noncitizens from being counted in apportionments, given their significant political influence.
"It is unconscionable that illegal immigrants and noncitizens are counted toward congressional district apportionment and our electoral map for the presidency, which also heavily skews the seat count in the U.S. House of Representatives," said Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) in a statement when the bill was introduced in June. Hagerty noted that Democrats purposely allow unchecked illegal immigration for this purpose.
"While people continue to flee Democrat-run cities, desperate Democrats have backfilled the mass exodus with illegal immigrants so that they do not lose their seats in Congress or their electoral votes, hence artificially boosting their political power and, in turn, diluting the power of other Americans’ votes. I’m pleased to lead my colleagues in reintroducing this legislation that would require a citizenship question on the census and will ensure that only citizens are counted in congressional redistricting," Hagerty said.
Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who introduced a similar measure in the House during the Biden administration, noted that the U.S. Constitution mandates everyone be counted. "But the Constitution does not specify whether noncitizens or illegal aliens must be counted for the purpose of apportioning House seats," Edwards said.
There's no reason that illegal immigrants should go toward the count that decides a state's representation in Congress. Democrats have been benefiting as illegal immigrants flood into their states, and Trump and the Republicans are right that this has to stop.
