On August 7, President Donald Trump announced plans to erase millions of undocumented residents from the U.S. map, a “sickening” decision allowing him to “fake numbers” and shift the balance of power in his favor, while costing taxpayers billions.
Since returning to the presidency in January 2025, Donald Trump has taken a series of headline-grabbing actions that have continued his trademark style of governance – moves that shock, disrupt, and divide.
And he’s not stopping anytime soon.
On August 7, Trump directed the Department of Commerce to begin work on what he called a “new and highly accurate” census, well before the scheduled 2030 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 wrote 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 in the August 7 post.
Breaking the Constitution
Trump’s directive marks an unprecedented shift in the way the U.S. has conducted its population counts since the very first census in 1790.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a nationwide census is required every 10 years to count every resident – a process the described as essential to fair representation.
Under the 14th Amendment, the U.S. Constitution requires that the “whole number of persons in each state” are included – and the Census Bureau has long interpreted this to mean every person living in the country, regardless of immigration status, reports AP.
But Trump’s fast-tracked, mid-decade count could inject new data into the redistricting process far sooner than usual, potentially reshaping political maps well before 2030.
Shifting balance of power
The Hill reports that Trump’s latest census order lands amid his push for Republican-leaning states to redraw congressional maps in ways that could tilt the balance of power toward the GOP ahead of the 2026 midterms. He’s been especially vocal about Texas, which has dominated national headlines after the president declared that Republicans are “entitled” to pick up at least five additional House seats there next year.
But, Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former congressional staffer who consults on census issues, told AP that “He cannot unilaterally order a new census. The census is governed by law, not to mention the Constitution.”
‘Misspending our money’
In addition to using census data to divide congressional seats and redraw political maps, it also directs how $2.8 trillion in federal funds are distributed each year, AP explains.
And Trump’s plan, to separate citizens from the almost 11 million undocumented immigrants, is a step critics say could reduce resource allocation, planning, and policy development.
Sean Moulton, a census expert with the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, warned that Trump’s approach could backfire on everyone, regardless of politics. “If we don’t count everybody,” he told Reuters, “we wind up misspending our money on infrastructure and hospitals, schools, power grids and water, so everyone winds up being inconvenienced and encountering problems.”
In other words, leaving people out of the census doesn’t just shift political power – it can lead to crumbling roads, overcrowded classrooms, and underfunded hospitals in every community.
Second attempt
During his first term, Trump attempted – unsuccessfully – to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. He also signed orders to exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment count and to gather citizenship data using government records.
Any move to repeat this would likely ignite a wave of legal battles.
“The census isn’t just a head count. It is meant to reflect America as it is – not as some would prefer it to be – and determines how critical resources are allocated,” American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Voting Rights project director Sophia Lin Lakin said, per AP. “Nobody should be erased from it. We won’t hesitate to go back to court to protect representation for all communities.”
Billion-dollar initiative
Responding to the reports, the internet is ablaze with outrage and debate over Trump’s plan to shake up the U.S. census.
“I extensively use census data in my job. I figured it was only a matter of time before he came for it. This is infuriating and sickening,” shared one person on Reddit.
“The guy that was found guilty of faking numbers wants to fake numbers,” writes a second, while another adds: “Someone tell mister efficiency a census costs ten billion dollars.”
In fact, the U.S. Accountability Department reports that the 2020 census cost taxpayers $13.7 billion to be exact – below the original estimate of $15.5 billion.
Trump’s push to reshape the census is more than a bureaucratic tweak — it’s a high-stakes political gamble that could redefine how power and resources are distributed across America. Supporters see it as a bold step toward accuracy, while critics warn it’s a dangerous attempt to sideline millions of residents and tilt the political map ahead of the 2026 midterms.
One thing is certain: this battle is far from over, and the outcome could shape the nation’s political and economic landscape for years to come.
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