OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
1:04 PM – Thursday, August 7, 2025
President Donald Trump announced Thursday morning that he has directed the U.S. Department of Commerce to commence preparations for a new census, stressing that illegal aliens residing in the United States should be excluded from the final 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,” Trump stated on Truth Social.
“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” the president added.
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Trump’s directive comes amid his broader effort to encourage Republican-leaning states to redraw congressional maps in a manner more advantageous to GOP House candidates ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
However, stubborn Texas House Democrats left the Lone Star state on Sunday, traveling to several locations, including Illinois, in an effort to deny the chamber a quorum and halt legislative proceedings.
As mandated by the U.S. Constitution, a nationwide census must be conducted every ten years to account for all residents living within the country, according to the official census website.
The information collected plays a critical role in determining the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives for each state and is also instrumental in guiding the distribution of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding to communities across the nation.
“The census tells us who we are and where we are going as a nation and helps our communities determine where to build everything from schools to supermarkets, and from homes to hospitals,” the Census Bureau stated.
Why It Matters:
Illegal aliens can increase the population count, and therefore political representation, of states with large undocumented populations, often Democrat-leaning states like California or New York. The GOP argues that only citizens should be counted for apportionment, and including illegals essentially dilutes the political representation of citizens, particularly in rural or conservative states with fewer of them.
Additionally, census data is used to distribute federal funds for infrastructure, education, healthcare, and more. Counting illegal aliens could direct more federal money to areas with higher undocumented populations, which is unfair to areas with mostly American citizens.
Republicans also argue that participating in the political or civic processes of the U.S., like representation through the Census, should be reserved for legal residents and citizens. The inclusion of illegal aliens undermines the legal immigration process while rewarding those who broke immigration laws.
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