JUST IN: Trump Orders New Census That Could Doom Democrats For A Generation

President Donald Trump called for a new census without warning on Thursday. This one, however, will be different in a key way.

For the first time, U.S. Census Bureau workers would be instructed not to tally the number of illegal immigrants in each state.

The distinction is critical for redistricting purposes, an issue at the center of a national maelstrom as Texas seeks to add between five and 10 GOP-favored seats with a new congressional map. States have typically relied on the counting of illegal immigrants to apportion congressional districts, which are set aside for approximately 765,000 Americans per district per decade, according to NBC News. The Census also plays a role in the distribution of all-important Electoral College votes for presidential elections.

On Truth Social, Trump said he has instructed the U.S. Commerce Department to begin outlining how to conduct this decade’s second census since its last one was completed in 2021.

“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,” he wrote.

“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he added.

President Trump is running up against historical precedent, which has relied on a constitutional phrase stating that the decennial census is “designed to count every resident in the United States.”

He fought to insert a citizenship question into the 2020 census during his first term, but he saw that effort stymied by the Supreme Court.

With Texas bowing to the White House’s wishes on redistricting, the president’s demand will certainly be heard by other GOP-led legislatures. Whether or not another census takes place, the administration is putting maximum pressure on red states to redraw their congressional maps, padding the GOP’s chances at a U.S. House majority in 2026.

Texas Democratic lawmakers have fled to other parts of the country in a bid to deny the state legislature a quorum to pass the new map. Republicans in response passed a law ordering law enforcement authorities to seek them out in blue cities like Chicago and Boston, arrest them, and return them home for a vote.

Concurrently, Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom are attempting to override independent redistricting commissions created years ago as they grapple with how to achieve their own redistricting.

The battle has led blue state Republicans like Reps. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) to warn about the perils of letting their ranks be decimated by Democrats who will likely draw their districts out of existence.

Kiley filed legislation on Monday that, if passed, would prevent all 50 states from redrawing congressional district lines before the 2030 census.

Mid-cycle redistricting “creates a situation where you’re going to lose blue state members, which over the long haul are critical to keeping the majority,” Lawler told Politico.