Trump Orders Commerce Dept to Draft Census Without Undocumented Residents

US President Donald Trump has directed the Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on what he called a “new and highly accurate” national census. Trump said the exercise should draw on modern data sources, including information gleaned from the 2024 presidential election, to generate a more precise population count. The president added that individuals living in the United States illegally “will not be counted” in the new tally, marking a departure from longstanding practice that counts all residents regardless of immigration status. A research note from TTN warned that excluding unauthorized residents could significantly reshape official population figures, with knock-on effects for economic statistics and the allocation of federal funding that relies on census data.