The Trump Administration has proposed a far-reaching revision of the U.S. census that would change both the information collected from households and the population used to distribute political representation and government resources. The proposals, released by the Department of Commerce earlier in the week of September 11, 2026, would apply ahead of the next census in 2030.
Under the plan, census officials would be barred from asking about race, ethnicity or sexual orientation on the questionnaire. The Administration would also exclude from the census count people who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents. Citizens and lawful permanent residents would remain in the count, while other foreign nationals, including people with temporary legal status and immigrants without documentation, would be excluded.
The census is required by the Constitution every 10 years. Its results determine the number of seats allotted to each state in the House of Representatives and guide the redrawing of electoral districts. Population totals also affect how government resources are allocated. If enacted, the changes would alter the federal government's measure of the country's population and could have wider effects on the resources directed to particular states.
The Administration said the official tally “should be colorblind and should not be distorted in any way by questions about immaterial personal characteristics”. It argued that removing demographic questions would increase participation in the census.
The proposal also calls for a citizenship-related question and questions on legal immigration status to be added to the short-form questionnaire. It would seek to check answers on citizenship by matching them against government records held by the Department of Homeland Security and Treasury.
In its case for a narrower count, the Administration said undocumented immigrants and other foreign nationals lack the level of connection and allegiance required to be counted. It said they are not “true inhabitants, members of the body politic, or persons with a usual residence” in the United States because they do not have a sufficient tie and allegiance to the country.
The approach would mark a break with longstanding census practice. Questions on race and ethnicity have appeared in every census since the first count in 1790. The 1790 Census Act directed government workers to count people with a “usual place of abode” in the US, without making citizenship status a condition of inclusion.
The issue has already been tested in court during Trump's first term. He sought to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census, an effort the Supreme Court blocked in 2019. The latest proposals must still pass through an approval process, and they are expected to face legal challenges before the 2030 census.
Several central consequences remain unclear. The proposals do not establish how many people would be excluded under the new criteria, which states might gain or lose House seats, or how federal resource allocations would change. It is also unknown whether Congress will intervene, what legal claims would be brought, and when final decisions would be made.
Comments (0)