Trump administration proposes excluding certain immigrants from US census

What the report says

The Trump administration has put forward a Census Bureau proposal that would exclude some immigrants from the US population count used to apportion House seats and guide federal funding. According to Al Jazeera, the plan released by the Department of Commerce on Wednesday would count US citizens and lawful permanent residents, while leaving out other foreign nationals, including people with temporary legal status and those without documentation.

The proposal also calls for changes to the census questionnaire, including removing some race and ethnicity questions and adding questions about legal immigration status. It would further allow the bureau to cross-check citizenship answers against other government records, such as files held by the Department of Homeland Security and the Treasury Department. The administration argues these steps could improve response rates and produce a more accurate count.

The effort reflects a broader push by President Donald Trump’s administration to reshape election-related rules, alongside redistricting and mail-in voting restrictions. As reported by Al Jazeera, the proposal departs from long-standing census practice, which has historically counted residents regardless of citizenship status. Critics warn that asking more immigration-related questions could discourage participation and affect the distribution of political representation and public resources.

The report also notes that Trump tried to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census during his first term, but the Supreme Court blocked that effort in 2019. The Census Bureau did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.