President Donald Trump has called for a ‘new’ and ‘highly accurate’ census, but he will likely have to wait for a new nationwide survey to be lawfully conducted.

The Census occurs every 10 years to reapportion congressional districts and count the U.S. population, with the most recent tally occurring in 2020. Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday that he wanted a “highly accurate CENSUS based on modern-day facts and figures” to be conducted, excluding illegal immigrants.

Recommended Stories

• Bondi offers $50 million for information leading to Nicolas Maduro's arrest
• Paxton demands Illinois court enforce arrest of Democrats who left Texas
• Paxton targets Soros-backed PAC for allegedly funding Texas Democrats who left state

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

While Trump has not elaborated on what he plans for this “new” census would be, or when it would be, anything outside the usual time frame is unlikely to be able to be lawfully carried out, according to legal experts.

Can Trump conduct a ‘new’ census?

If Trump is seeking to redo the tabulation of the 2020 Census, the president will be unable to do so lawfully.

“There’s no legal mechanism to redo the census mid-decade,” George Washington University Law Professor Paul Schiff Berman told the Washington Examiner.

Title 13 of the U.S. Code details how the federal government conducts the census. The law mandates a census every 10 years at the top of the decade, like 2020 or 2030, which is used for the constitutionally required survey for apportionment of congressional seats.

Another part of the statute allows for a mid-decade census every 10 years in years ending with five, including 2015 and 2025. John Shu, a constitutional law expert who served in both Bush administrations, pointed to that part of the statute if the Trump administration wanted to get new data figures.

“For a mid-decade census, the statute doesn’t require a presidential administration to do a full census if it doesn’t want to do so,” Shu told the Washington Examiner. “In fact, the statute specifically gives the Secretary of Commerce the flexibility to do it ‘in such form and content as he may determine,’ though it may not be used for redistricting or reapportionment purposes.”

Shu also noted that “therefore, theoretically the Trump administration could simply ask for name, address, citizenship status, and immigration or visa status, as long as it carefully follows all of the administrative policies and procedures as per the 2019 Supreme Court case of Department of Commerce v. New York.”

Shu pointed out that the statute also states that the mid-decade census “shall be taken as of the first day of April of each such year,” which, in this case, would have been four months ago. The April date outlined in the statute complicates Trump’s effort to do any form of mid-decade redistricting at this point.

Would he be able to exclude illegal immigrants in the census?

Under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, all “whole persons” in the U.S. must be counted in the census to decide how many seats in the House of Representatives each state receives. This essentially forecloses the idea of excluding illegal immigrants or present noncitizens from the tally.

“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,” section 2 of the 14th Amendment reads.

While illegal immigrants may not be excluded from the census, people surveyed during it could be asked about their immigration status.

Berman believes that the Trump administration could be “potentially allowed” to ask about legal status or whether a person is a citizen or legal resident if it follows the proper procedure to implement the question.

During the first Trump administration, efforts were made to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census, but the bid to include the question, which made its way to the Supreme Court in 2019, failed on procedural grounds.

“The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that he couldn’t do it, but it was on the grounds that the rationale the Department of Commerce put forth for why they were including the census question was a pretext, and clearly not the real reason. So they sent it back to the agency to provide further explanation, and by that time, the administration had run out of time, so it never fully got addressed,” Berman told the Washington Examiner.

“So at the very least, the administration would have to come up with a legitimate reason for asking the census question that was deemed to be legal,” Berman added.

Even if the Trump administration can get a citizenship question on the census, an individual’s independent answer will not be allowed to be shared with law enforcement. The law outlining how the census is conducted shields those surveyed from his or her answers being used against them by law enforcement, and all data collected is for anonymous data purposes.

While the identities of the illegal immigrants present in the country may not be collected by the census for use by federal immigration officials, the number of unlawfully present people in the country could be tallied.

Next census for reapportionment would have to be 2030

Despite a rush of congressional redistricting across the country sparking discussion on the potential for a mid-decade reapportionment census, the next census determining the allocation of House seats to states will be conducted in 2030.

TRUMP CALLS FOR NEW CENSUS ‘IMMEDIATELY’

With preparations for the census having to begin years ahead of the actual surveying, Shu said the president is likely looking at ways to incorporate a citizenship question into the census at the beginning of the next decade with his announcement.

“It’s likely that the Trump administration will focus on adding a citizenship question to the 2030 census,” Shu told the Washington Examiner. “They are smart to start now, because they will need sufficient time to properly draft and incorporate it, and to make sure that it follows the Administrative Procedure Act and all relevant statutes and regulations.”