President Donald Trump on Thursday directed the Department of Commerce to begin work on a new census that excludes undocumented immigrants from the population count, a move that could have a profound effect on the makeup of the US House of Representatives.
Calling for a “new and highly accurate” census based on “modern day facts and figures,” Trump ordered Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to begin to work on the project immediately. The announcement came as redistricting battles intensify across the country in advance of the 2026 midterm elections.
Historically, the decennial US Census has included all residents, regardless of legal status. That count is then used to apportion congressional seats among the states. Under the presidency of Joe Biden, illegal immigrants flooded the nation to the highest levels in history, and many believe it was an intentional strategy by Democrats.
By excluding noncitizens, states with high numbers of undocumented illegal immigrants, such as California, could lose seats in Congress.
A 2020 Pew Research Center analysis suggested that excluding noncitizens would result in California, Texas, and Florida each losing a congressional seat.
In Texas, Republicans are pushing a new congressional map that could flip as many as five Democratic seats. Democratic lawmakers there made headlines by fleeing the state to block a vote, prompting Republican Sen. John Cornyn to confirm that the FBI is pursuing those legislators.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he will back a redistricting effort in his state that would counteract the Republican map in Texas, and he is calling on Democrats to “fight fire with fire.”
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski stands alone among Republicans on this issue. In a 2024 vote on an amendment to restrict census counts to US citizens, she was the only Republican senator to vote against it, even though the change would not impact Alaska, since the state has just one congressional seat due to low population.
While other members of her party argue that including undocumented immigrants unfairly boosts Democratic power, Murkowski has defended the broader interpretation of the term “persons,” even in light of the crush of illegal immigration under the Biden administration and the cost to American taxpayers to mitigate the social problems associated with criminal migrants.
An estimated 16.8 million illegal aliens were living in the United States as of June 2023, according to data from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, up from 15.5 million the previous year. Over 7 million of those have entered the country during President Joe Biden’s time in office. These populations are heavily concentrated in blue states, and under current policy, bolster those states’ congressional clout.
FANTASTIC!!!! Having illegal’s counted as American citizens was a leftist f@ck you to we citizens born in the United States!
Want to count illegals. Fine with me.
Want that number to determine representation in Congress? No
Want them to determine the amount of Federal spending on health, education, food stamps? No. Strong NO!
.
If President Trump wants to get leftist support for this measure, he should push to count the illegals, but for every illegal in a State, the amount of Federal spending in that State will be reduced by two people’s worth. Suddenly, the left will become perfectly OK with excluding the illegals.
WOW!, With CA is already burning up with fires and rioting…with Gov saying “he is calling on Democrats to “fight fire with fire.” as if it hasn’t been charred aready I guess he won’t have much of a state left to govern..
Why would she vote against this?
Because Trump proposed it, and she hates him for whatever personal reasons.
That 👆. Right there, hit the nail on the head.
Talk about marching to a different band and tune!! Is there any subject or topic legislatively that this woman will not protest in the negative at every opportunity? Ye Gads, our potential next Governor??? That would be a hoot!
A geewiz thought. From what I understand this is only illegal aliens that won’t be counted. Why not legal immigrants since they can’t vote. Then, could we go further in not counting those in prison, convicted of a felony, since they can’t vote.
She just doesn’t get it and can’t // won’t “read-the-room” as to what’s important to the constituency, completely blind and deaf-mute. A few days ago, I opined that she should retire and fade away into obscurity, freeing Alaska and Alaskans from her treachery, and simply fade away honorably … go be grouchy at your grandchildren … bake terrible cookies … go be an important person at The Villages … etc. I double-down on that proclamation … EARLY RETIREMENT Now!!!
You will notice Trump is pushing for only “citizens” to be counted, there are many legal residents of the USA who are not citizens. He keeps claiming that he is entitled to 5 more Republicans in the US House of Representatives, not sure how he figures that. He received 56.2% of the vote in Texas, using that number times the Texas Representatives in the house, 56.2% of 38, Texas should have 21.4, rounding up to 22. Currently Texas has 25 Republican Representatives, seems to me they are already over represented by Republicans. Stop the gerrymandering!
In states where Republicans control redistricting Democrats win 24% of house races, in states where Democrats control redistricting Republicans win 14% of house races, in states where “independent” groups control control redistricting Democrats win 65% of house races to Republicans 35%, in states where the courts control redistricting Democrats win 57% of house races to Republicans 43%. Somewhere around 50-55 house seats could theoretically be gerrymandered by Republican controlled states while about 30 could theoretically be gerrymandered by Democrats since they’ve been so good at gerrymandering. Consider the gerrymandering in just these few Democratic states New Jersey Democrats control 9 of 12 congressional seats, even though 45% of House votes go to Republicans. Illinois Democrats control 14 of 17 seats even though of House they only recieved 53% of the vote. Oregon Democrats hold 5 of 6 seats, even though 42% of House votes go to Republicans. In Massachusetts Democrats control all 9 congressional seats while Trump received nearly 37% of the Presidential votes.
Her Senate votes for DEMOCRATS is just the tip of the iceberg. Her really greater damage to OUR COUNTRY, is the Unoticed maneuvering of early legislation bills through congress in their Infancy. She has mastered what goes through commities, and what gets held up, defeated or ammened. She is like a Legislative Alligator, unnoticed on the surface, but very powerful under the surface.
We told Lisa to not draw attention to the redistricting issue, and what do you know, she did it again. Now Nancy and I have to find a new place for Maria, Pepe, and their five kids from Guatamala. They’ve done a great job keeping up our new mansion in Palm Desert when we travel. Thanks loads, Lisa. Disinheritance is still an option.
Didn’t they have birth control for Catholic couples 70 years ago? That would have been the best option.
The root cause of this issue is Congress’s complete incompetence and inability to fix our immigration system. Both parties get an F. Everyone, including employers, especially employers, were perfectly happy to look the other way for decades while illegal immigrants provided reliable, cheap labor. The US Treasury was happy to collect the taxes out of their paychecks. And every one of us ate the fruits and vegetables they picked and the meat they packed. The Constitution clearly states that all persons will be counted. Oh and by the way, that’s in Article I, which sets out the powers of Congress. The Executive does not have the power to initiate a census. If we don’t like the Constitution we have the option to change it. Violating it because Congress is lazy and inept is a bad choice.
Totally agree. I can’t figure out why all the executive actions and subsequent barrage of court cases. Why not just propose an amendment for birthright citizenship and then actually work to change the system so people can work here legally and seasonally. This congress and president seem to take the easy and reversible way out . Someone else will just come in and do a slew of executive actions to change things back. This path is lazy and unsustainable. Once again there is an opportunity for real reform but at the end of the day ALL of these legislators (and president) are in the pocket of big industry and those groups don’t want change. Those big money groups want to appease a lazy public with a short memory while still keeping a cheap workforce. When will the public actually ask for constitutional reform
around citizenship and a real system so people can fill jobs lazy Americans don’t want.
Dat face tho…
😱
What’s with this senator?
That is SUCH a stupid vote for an AK Rep.
How about pushing for us locals Lisa; oh wait, I forgot – you’re politically protected Royalty ….. my bad.
We MUST get rid of Murkowski. She’s simply a naive incompetent woman.
Suzanne,
Please correct the verbiage used from “excludes undocumented immigrants from the population count” to “excludes illegal aliens from the population count”.
Illegal. Aliens.
Not Undocumented Immigrants.
Yes!
An illegal alien is an “undocumented immigrant” in the same way that a drug dealer is an “undoctumented pharmacist”.
For the win. – sd
Not a shocker, she needs the illegal vote like any other Democrat.
It’s not Lisa you have a problem with, it’s the constitution. Re-read Article 1, Section 2. It says all “persons” are to be counted, not all citizens.
It would appear that when the constitution was written we did not have illegal aliens per se. Thus all persons residing in the US were counted. Only once immagration laws were passed did we have illegal aliens. Would this serve as grounds for a legal debate? Can any constutional lawyers chime in on this?
Cman,
It actually doesn’t say what you claim. It says, in part “the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.” Since the 3/5th compromise was a favor to the South and a way to count slaves in the census do you think that illegal aliens should only count as 3/5 of a person, Indians who don’t pay taxes shouldn’t count, and those who are held as slaves with no terms of service should not be counted? Or do you want to rethink your comment and maybe add some more information to it? There have after all been a few Amendments, new laws, and centuries of legal rulings.
….crickets. those without mental capacity to think the tough questions through to a plausible conclusion are better left to silence. Right, Cboy?
She is extremely worthless to Republicans in Alaska, she was illegally put in office by her Dad over the 132 qualifying potential candidates which most of them were way more suited to represent our great state. She has since used the abomination of rank choice voting to stay in office and to top it off She never votes the way we constituents want to be represented..
Murkowski is Alaska’s Best Democrat..
Don’t think the courts will allow a redo of the entire census. Besides that, it will take too long and the results won’t be ready for 2026 or 2028. OTOH, a reenumeration with existing data is most certainly possible and likely. Strap ’em up. it’s gonna be a fun ride. Cheers –
The word “citizen” does not appear to be the operative noun in this case. The question is whether illegal aliens are part of the “people”. The census counts persons; i.e., the people. Illegal aliens are not members of the people as Constitutionally defined.
She needs to go. Not looking out for us
Illegal immigrants being counted in the census is the modern equivalent of the 3/5ths Compromise reached during the 1787 Constitutional Convention which stipulated that three out of every five enslaved people would be counted when determining a state’s total population for representation in the House of Representatives and for taxation purposes………and, of course, slaves couldn’t vote. This compromise addressed the contentious issue of how enslaved people should be factored into the apportionment of political power and financial obligations between the Northern and Southern states. Democrats really never change their spots. They just repeat their political machinations time and time again, but usually using different slaves, since humanity tends to free their slaves every century or so………only for them them to enslave somebody else………..