WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration released a proposal on Wednesday to alter the 2030 census methodology, seeking to exclude non-citizens without permanent legal status from congressional apportionment data. The plan also calls for stopping the use of census questions regarding race and ethnicity and would ban the inclusion of a question about sexual orientation.

The proposal argues that undocumented immigrants and those without permanent legal status are not "true inhabitants" or "persons with a usual residence" due to a lack of sufficient tie and allegiance to the United States. It includes excluding individuals whose legal status is less durable and indefinite in length than lawful permanent resident status, such as those without green cards. President Trump posted on Truth Social that "People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS."

To implement these changes, the Census Bureau is considering using administrative records from the departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, Defense, and Homeland Security, as well as the Postal Service, to determine the legal status of respondents. The proposal cites the "potentially sensitive nature" of inquiries about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation and a reduced need for or usefulness of this information as justification for removing these questions. The administration is scheduled to send a report on proposed question topics for the 2030 census to Congress by April 1.

New York Attorney General Letitia James opposed the move, stating on social media, "We stopped the Trump administration’s census attacks in 2020, and we’re exploring our legal options to fight back again." Democrats on the House Oversight Committee accused the president of trying to rig the survey. The proposal faces potential legal challenges based on the 14th Amendment, which requires the census to include the whole number of persons in each state. Congress has final authority over the census under the Constitution.

The U.S. census has included questions about race and ethnicity since the first count in 1790. The 2020 census asked couples living together to describe their partners as either "opposite-sex" or "same-sex." In 2024, the Biden administration revised federal standards for racial and ethnic data, including new checkboxes for "Hispanic or Latino" and "Middle Eastern or North African" under a reformatted question asking: What is your race and/or ethnicity? The proposal contemplates adding a citizenship question to the census questionnaire, an effort the Trump administration attempted and failed to achieve in the 2020 census. The administration also attempted and failed to exclude residents without legal status from the 2020 census apportionment counts in July 2020.

A 2025 Pew study estimated there were about 16 million immigrants in the United States who did not have permanent legal status. A 2020 Pew Research Center estimate found that excluding undocumented immigrants from apportionment would have impacted the distribution of three House seats, with California, Florida, and Texas potentially losing seats to Alabama, Minnesota, and Ohio. However, a 2025 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nexus found that excluding undocumented immigrants would have a roughly neutral effect on House control and the Electoral College since 1980. In 2024, House Republicans passed a bill that would exclude noncitizens entirely from apportionment, and Senator Bill Hagerty sponsored a Senate bill to exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment for the 2030 census.

Timeline

On April 1, 2020, the Trump administration attempted and failed to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, and the 2020 census asked couples living together to describe their partners as either "opposite-sex" or "same-sex." On July 21, 2020, the Trump administration attempted and failed to exclude residents without legal status from the 2020 census apportionment counts.

In 2024, the Biden administration revised federal standards for racial and ethnic data, and the revisions included new checkboxes for "Hispanic or Latino" and "Middle Eastern or North African" under a reformatted question asking: What is your race and/or ethnicity? On December 31, 2024, House Republicans passed a bill that would exclude noncitizens entirely from apportionment. In 2025, a Pew study estimated there were about 16 million immigrants in the United States who did not have permanent legal status.

What's New

Senator Bill Hagerty sponsored a Senate bill to exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment for the 2030 census. Research titled "Trump administration targets academic journals with attorney letter, proposed funding cuts" was published in 2025 in AAAS Articles DO Group. New York Attorney General Letitia James posted on social media, "We stopped the Trump administration’s census attacks in 2020, and we’re exploring our legal options to fight back again."

Research titled "Inside the Trump Administration’s Proposed Medicaid Managed Care Rule" was published in 2018 in Forefront Group. Trump posted on Truth Social, "People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS." The Homeland Security Department published a rule titled Registration of Lawful Permanent Residence for Children Born to Foreign Government Employees in the United States on September 9, 2026.

Why It Matters

The proposal represents a shift in how the federal government defines the population for congressional representation, directly challenging the 14th Amendment's requirement to count the whole number of persons in each state. By excluding non-citizens without permanent legal status, the administration aims to alter the distribution of House seats, a move that could shift political power among states. The removal of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation questions marks a departure from census practices dating back to 1790 and recent federal data standards updated in 2024.

The scale of the potential impact involves an estimated 16 million immigrants without permanent legal status, according to a 2025 Pew study. While historical estimates suggested such exclusions could shift House seats from large states like California, Florida, and Texas to others like Alabama, Minnesota, and Ohio, recent research suggests the effect on overall House control might be neutral. The proposal continues a pattern of legal and political conflict over census methodology, following failed attempts in 2020 to add a citizenship question and exclude undocumented residents from apportionment counts.