Trump Orders Controversial Census Changes Amid Intensifying Redistricting Battles

President Donald Trump on Thursday, August 6, 2025, directed the Commerce Department to initiate work on a new census, demanding the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from the count. The controversial order, announced via social media, specifies that the new census should be based on ‘modern day facts and figures’ and incorporate results from the 2024 Presidential Election.

This directive directly challenges the U.S. Census Bureau’s 235-year practice of counting all foreign-born individuals, regardless of legal status, for its decennial census. Census data is crucial as it determines the allocation of the 435 House seats among the 50 states.

Trump’s announcement comes as redistricting battles are escalating nationwide, with significant implications for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. A major showdown is currently unfolding in Texas, where a proposed congressional map could significantly increase Republican House seats. Texas Democrats have left the state in protest, denying Republicans the necessary quorum to vote on the changes, prompting Governor Greg Abbott to explore legal repercussions and order their arrest.

Democrats in blue states, including New York Governor Kathy Hochul and California Governor Gavin Newsom, have vowed to retaliate by exploring gerrymandering their own maps, despite currently using independent commissions. Republican governors are also considering redrawing congressional maps given the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House, where Democrats need to flip only three seats next November to regain control. Vice President JD Vance was reportedly in Indiana on Thursday to discuss redistricting with Republican leaders.

This is not the first time Trump has attempted to alter the census to exclude noncitizens. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled against the Commerce Department’s effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

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