President Donald Trump on Thursday demanded work begin on a new census as redistricting battles are spreading across the country.
In a social media post, Trump announced he directed the Commerce Department 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.”
“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS,” Trump added.
MORE: Texas redistricting: What’s at stake as Republicans aim to pick up 5 House seats
The U.S. Census Bureau says it “collects data from all foreign born who participate in its censuses and surveys, regardless of legal status” and has done so for its 235-year history. The data determines how the 435 House seats are divided among the 50 states every 10 years.
Trump’s announcement on Thursday comes amid a showdown in Texas over a proposed congressional map that, if enacted, could net Republicans between three and five U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections.
Texas Democrats fled the state in protest, denying Republicans the necessary quorum to vote on the changes. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is now exploring legal consequences for those lawmakers, ordering Texas Department of Public Safety to find and arrest lawmakers who left the state and asking the Texas Supreme Court to remove a top Texas House Democrat from office.
With control of the U.S. House potentially at stake, blue-state Democrats are vowing to respond in kind should Texas Republicans succeed in changing their map.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and California Gov. Gavin Newsom said they will explore ways to gerrymander their maps. Both states currently use independent commissions to draw their maps following constitutional amendments.
MORE: How redistricting in Texas and other states could change the game for US House elections
More Republican governors, too, are exploring possibly redrawing congressional maps ahead of the 2026 elections given the GOP’s razor-thin margins in the House. Democrats would need to only net three seats next November to win back the House.
Vice President JD Vance is visiting Indiana on Thursday to discuss redistricting and other topics with Republican leaders.
Trump in his first term attempted to change the U.S. census to exclude noncitizens. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that Commerce Department’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census violated federal law.
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