President Trump has just directed the Department of Commerce to plan for a new census that would exclude illegal immigrants. Whether that is possible is questionable, but the record high number and percentage of illegal immigrants currently in America and counted in the census is a travesty. Most of these “criminals” reside in blue states adding to the states’ population which determines their number of congressional seats.
After four years of the Biden administration’s open invitation for illegal immigrants to invade America, the consensus is that we now have an estimated 18.6 million illegals inside our borders. This is after a major surge of illegal border crossings in 2024. Other estimates are 20 to 30 million. That amounts to about six percent of our population living here illegally. With a largely disproportionate amount of these illegals in blue states where they are treated with all kinds of protection and entitlements, Democratic congressional seats are obviously benefited. Congressional seats are based on state population as reported by the Census Bureau, which counts everyone, legal or illegal. Is there any doubt why Democrats champion illegal immigration?
The Census Bureau has historically counted every nose in the country regardless of status. But who would have ever thought we would someday have 20 million unauthorized immigrants that would be counted. And they shouldn’t be counted. They are here only because we can’t find them and deport them fast enough. Yet, they are a political advantage to their state of residence in that they count toward the state’s population which determines how many congressmen the state has. How unfair is that?
Although Texas and Florida have a large number of illegal immigrants simply because they are states with the most illegals entering, California has the highest number with almost three million. Also, at the top of the list are blue states New Jersey, Illinois, and New York estimated at around a half-million each. Each U.S. representative represents an average of 780,000 constituents. If the 20 million illegal immigrants, concentrated in the blue states, were no longer part of that number, many districts in those states would shift to Republican majorities. Most research estimates that excluding illegals from the calculation of congressional seats would result in over 20 additional Republican seats. The Republicans’ present House majority of only seven votes means they can only lose three votes to prevail in any floor vote. An extra 20 Republican votes would be huge. The narrow Republican House majority is because of the 20 million illegal immigrants who have invaded our country. They could lead to the Republican loss of the majority in 2026. Remember, theoretically, the illegals don’t vote, but they control the party numbers in Congress simply by their inclusion in the census.
We hear a lot about Democratic efforts to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants or otherwise giving them the right to vote. Of course, they would vote for the party that brought them into the country and gave them free entitlements. But most important to the Democrats are the congressional seats the illegals bring to their blue states just by their settling there. It is no wonder Democrats want wide-open borders, create sanctuary cities and states, and fight against ICE captures and deportations with a vengeance.
But will President Trump be able to correct this unjust circumstance with a new census that excludes illegal immigrants? Probably not. Certainly not before the 2026 mid-term elections. He attempted to fix this inequity in 2020, but a federal court rejected the effort. Subsequently, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case on a technicality. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution calls for a census every ten years to determine congressional seats by state. It also specifies that everyone be counted regardless of citizenship. However, the Amendment excluded most Indians. Over time, Indians became a part of the count, except for a small number who still have strong tribal connections. Whether Congress could legislate a similar exclusion of illegal immigrants is much debated and would end up back in the Supreme Court.
I applaud President Trump’s challenging the nearly two-and-a-half century precedent of including illegal immigrants in the census. The vast number of illegals in our country today is unprecedented and requires a relook at how we count our people and fill our congressional seats. I invite your thoughts.
Great article. I cannot understand why government is at the point where it depends on what side you are on as to whether you are right or wrong. No body wants to try to decide what’s best for the country, not the party. Why don’t we all want America to be great. Texas elected officials (Democrats) are like children, if they don’t get there way they run and hide. Keep up the good work Terry.
Great to hear from you, George. The Dems don’t want what’s best for the country. They want Socialism and themselves as the power brokers with everyone else subservient. We don’t have a two-party system now; we have an American party and an anti-American party.
Can you provide the sources for your data used in this post?
Jay, here you are:
Mike Schneider, APNews.com, Can Trump hold a census in the middle of a decade and exclude immigrants in the US illegally?, Aug. 7, 2025
Louis Jacobson, Poynter.org, Can Trump call a new census and leave out immigrants in the country legally? Aug. 11, 2025
Bret Baier, Fox News Special Report, Television broadcast, August 8, 2025
U.S. Census Bureau, census.gov
U.S. House of Representatives Party Breakdown, pressgallery.house.gov
President Donald J. Trump, x.com/POTUS, Aug. 7, 2025
Thanks Terry, I reviewed the sources, as well as some other sites, and I’d say the numbers you’re citing seem to be overestimated.
I have a couple problems with the premise of this post:
1. It appears to be highly partisan and politically motivated, as it seems your stated goal is to simply pick up more seats in the House, primarily to allow Trump to be virtually unchecked in every action he takes.
2. This also appears to support violating the 14th Amendment, given the Supreme Court’s attitude towards the last attempt Trump made to enact citizenship as a gateway to the census.
My question is this:
If this were to happen, given that federal funding is also heavily tied to the Census, what would the impact be on rural communities?
Jay,
My blog posts are not meant to be neutral. They certainly have a bias toward a strong America, Christian values, law and order, capitalism, and patriotism. They will always oppose socialism, woke culture, and criminal violence. I am a conservative and desire conservative values in America. My research is from credible and official sources. Data often differ among legitimate sources. But I never knowingly publish erroneous data. Counting illegal immigrants, as the Constitution requires, was an idea from the years of slavery. The drafters of the Constitution never imagined the invasion of millions of illegal immigrants as the Biden administration supported. These illegal immigrants, by a significant majority, live in major Democratic cities according to the Pew Research Center. Relatively few have settled in rural areas. You are correct that federal funding is tied to the census, which means these illegals provide a major boost to the federal funds these Democratic cities receive. Is that what you would call fair and ethical? I never proposed violating the 14th Amendment. Maybe we need to change the 14th Amendment.
According to what I can find, roughly 10-15% of undocumented immigrants settle in rural communities, meaning that the funding for those communities will certainly decrease for those areas, if what you are advocating for takes place. That being the case, we would see a decrease in healthcare, emergency services, employment, and education funding in those communities, which would almost assuredly lead to an even wider gap in those areas, economically speaking.
Also, and I think you know this, most of the Democratic states that you have pointed to are a net positive in terms of federal money paid to the government versus government funding received.
Including a citizenship question on a census will ultimately only hurt Republican/Red states, due to more of the surplus that the Democrats are paying going towards maintaining their current standard of living. States like California will simply pay less to the federal government and spend more of their own money on their citizens, while states like Arkansas will suffer more.
I think changing the 14th Amendment, considering what all it entails, sets a dangerous precedent. It’s a furthering of the slippery slope. Maybe the 14th Amendment needs to stay as is and people need to heed the law of the land.