- The Trump administration proposed excluding noncitizens without green cards from the population count for House seats and Electoral College votes.
- The plan targets the two thousand thirty census and would remove race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation questions from the short form.
- A thirty-day public comment period will follow, and the rule would take effect only after the two thousand twenty-eight election.
The Trump administration released a proposal September 9, 2026, that would exclude noncitizens without green cards from the population count used to allocate House seats and Electoral College votes. The Commerce Department and Census Bureau advanced the plan under Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The proposal targets the 2030 census. It would also remove race and ethnicity questions from the short-form questionnaire, along with a question on sexual orientation.
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The rule would count U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. It would leave out undocumented immigrants and could also exclude visa holders, refugees, asylum seekers, and other foreign nationals with temporary or less durable legal status.
The change would depart from the census’s longstanding approach. The government has historically counted residents regardless of immigration status.
Lutnick said the administration wants the decennial count focused on apportionment rather than demographic information. He wrote:
“the collection of such data does not, by itself, advance the fundamental, constitutional purpose of the decennial census, which is to conduct an enumeration to ascertain the population count for apportionment.”
The proposal also argues that undocumented immigrants lack a sufficient connection to the country for inclusion in the apportionment count. It describes them as not “true inhabitants, members of the body politic, or persons with a ‘usual residence’ in the United States due to their lack of a sufficient tie and allegiance to the United States.”
The proposal is not final. It was posted online and described as filed in the Federal Register on Wednesday, September 9, 2026. A 30-day public comment period was scheduled to follow.
The rule would not take effect until after the 2028 presidential election, leaving a later administration able to reverse it. Legal challenges are expected if the proposal becomes final.
The proposal would recast both the count and the questionnaire
| Census element | Proposed approach | Current or historical approach described in the material |
|---|---|---|
| Apportionment population | Count U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents; exclude undocumented immigrants and some other noncitizens | Count residents regardless of immigration status |
| House representation | Use the narrower population total to allocate 435 seats | Use census population totals for House seat allocation |
| Electoral College | Use the narrower population total to determine presidential electors | Use census population totals in Electoral College calculations |
| Race and ethnicity | Remove the questions from the short form | Include race and ethnicity questions |
| Sexual orientation | Bar the question from the enumeration form | The proposal targets its removal |
The 2020 short form asked for household size, each person’s name, sex, date of birth, race, ethnicity, and a phone number for the respondent. The new proposal would remove some of those demographic categories rather than add them.
One report estimated the undocumented population at around 15 million. Those residents would not be included in the totals used for apportionment under the proposed rule.
A rule used for generations would exclude residents by immigration status
The proposal would mark the first time residents were excluded from the census because of their immigration status, said Hansi Lo Wang. He described the shift as “an unprecedented change because since the first U.S. census way back in 1790, no person living in the States has been excluded because of their immigration status.”
The administration has characterized the approach as colorblind and said the census should not be shaped by “immaterial personal characteristics.” The proposal says the enumeration’s central constitutional task is determining the population count for apportionment.
That position conflicts with the census practice described in the proposal’s background materials. Race and ethnicity questions have appeared in census operations for generations, while the population count has included residents regardless of legal status.
The plan follows an earlier effort during Trump’s first term to alter how immigrants were counted for apportionment. The new version combines that immigration-status change with a broader rewrite of the questionnaire.
States could see representation shift as demographic data disappears
Changing the apportionment population could move congressional representation and presidential electors among states. Census totals also guide the distribution of billions of dollars in federal funding.
The effects would extend beyond seat calculations. Researchers and government agencies use race and ethnicity statistics for civil rights enforcement, redistricting, policymaking, and demographic analysis.
Opponents argue that the Constitution requires counting the “whole number of persons in each state,” including people living in the country without legal status. That argument is expected to form part of challenges to the rule.
The administration’s stated rationale separates apportionment from demographic data collection. Removing the questions would make the short form less detailed, while also limiting future statistics used to evaluate racial disparities and enforce antidiscrimination protections.
The Commerce Department and Census Bureau will face the public comment process before the proposal can become final. Its timing places the proposed rule after the 2028 presidential election, when a future administration could decide whether to keep, revise, or abandon it.
