Redistricting war spreads
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered officials to work on a new census that would exclude undocumented immigrants, framing it as a “highly accurate” count based on “modern day facts and figures” from the 2024 election.
He declared that “people who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED”, despite the US Constitution’s mandate since 1790 to include all persons in the decennial census.
Trump did not clarify whether he meant the next scheduled census in 2030 or a special survey beforehand. The census determines congressional representation, Electoral College votes, and distribution of trillions in federal funds. The Pew Research Center estimates excluding undocumented immigrants in 2020 would have cost California, Florida, and Texas one House seat each.
This move revives Trump’s earlier efforts to alter the census, including a failed attempt to add a citizenship question, which the Supreme Court blocked during his first term. The justices did not decide whether undocumented residents could be excluded from the count.
The push comes amid fierce redistricting battles in Republican-led states ahead of the 2026 midterms. In Texas, a proposed electoral map could net Republicans up to five extra House seats. More than 50 Democratic state lawmakers have fled to other Democratic states to block the plan, prompting Texas Republicans to threaten arrests. Senator John Cornyn said he had asked the FBI to help locate them, though Illinois Governor JB Pritzker vowed to protect the Democrats sheltering in his state.
Vice President JD Vance visited Indiana to discuss potential redistricting gains with Governor Mike Braun. Politico reports Republicans could add up to 10 House seats nationwide, targeting Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida. Democrats are eyeing countermeasures in strongholds like New York and California.
In Illinois, Texas Democrats staying at a suburban Chicago hotel were evacuated Wednesday due to an unspecified threat. Pritzker emphasised that neither the FBI nor Texas authorities had the power to remove them, saying they were “protecting… the entire country” by resisting the Texas map.
The clash over Trump’s census plan and the broader redistricting fight underscores high-stakes manoeuvring for control of the House, where Republicans hold a razor-thin majority that could flip with just three Democratic gains in 2026.
