Trump orders Commerce Department to begin working on new US Census

President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the Commerce Department to begin working on a new U.S. Census report, which is historically released every 10 years with the next due in 2030.

"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. 

The Census numbers have become of national interest in recent weeks as Democrats try to redraw state congressional maps, based on census data, to try to gain more House seats in the 2026 midterm elections. 

And in the past few weeks, GOP lawmakers have put forward three bills that would have the 2030 census tally individuals without U.S. citizenship, and then subtract a few or all of them from the apportionment counts, according to NPR.

Trump said Thursday: "People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

When Democrat President Joe Biden was in office, the GOP-controlled House passed a bill that would leave illegal migrants out of the census, but the effort was halted after the narrow passage.