Overview

• President Trump’s Truth Social announcement directs the Commerce Department to begin an immediate mid-decade census that excludes undocumented immigrants, using data from the 2024 election.
• The Constitution’s Article I Section 2 requires a census every ten years to count every person, making a mid-decade survey unprecedented and legally vulnerable.
• Census results determine congressional apportionment, Electoral College votes and the distribution of federal funding, and studies warn that excluding an estimated 11 to 22 million undocumented people could shift five House seats among key states.
• Republican-led redistricting efforts, particularly in Texas, stand to benefit from the new count as they aim to secure additional seats for the 2026 midterms.
• Legal scholars and civil rights groups argue the plan violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s “whole number of persons” requirement and are preparing lawsuits to block implementation.