Trump Admin Moves To Take Illegal Immigrants Off The Census

The Trump administration has issued a proposal to stop counting illegal immigrants in the census.

Immigrants who lack legal status and noncitizens without green cards would be excluded from the apportionment count following the 2030 census under the latest proposal, which was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. The proposal is expected to massively affect the distribution of congressional seats.

The plan also includes removing questions about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation from the census, citing a “reduced need for or usefulness of this information,” according to the proposed regulation.

The proposed changes are expected to face legal challenges based on the 14th Amendment, which states, “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.”

New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James wrote on X on Wednesday that her office is already “exploring” legal options to stop the Trump administration’s plan.

“The Constitution is clear,” James wrote. “Every person living in the United States, regardless of immigration status, must be counted in the census.”

President Donald Trump has previously indicated his intentions to remove illegal immigrants from the census and directed the Commerce Department last year to roll out a new census.

“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 in an August 2025 Truth Social post.

“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS,” he added.

The Census Bureau counts “unauthorized migrants” as part of the foreign-born population, which includes “naturalized U.S. citizens, non-citizen U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (immigrants), temporary migrants (such as foreign students), humanitarian migrants (such as refugees and asylees), and unauthorized migrants.”

The states with the highest populations of illegal immigrants are California (2.3 million), Texas (2.1 million), Florida (1.6 million), New York (825,000), New Jersey (600,000), and Illinois (550,000), according to a Pew Research study based on data from 2023.