WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has proposed a sweeping change to the 2030 census that would limit the population count to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents while eliminating questions about race and ethnicity.
The Census Bureau submitted the proposal on Wednesday, Sept. 9. It is open for public comment for 30 days and has not taken effect. If finalized, the plan would exclude undocumented immigrants as well as refugees, asylum seekers, international students and other people living in the United States under temporary lawful status, according to current reporting.
The census is conducted every 10 years and helps determine how the 435 seats in the U.S. House are divided among the states. Census data also guides the drawing of congressional and state legislative districts and the distribution of federal money for schools, transportation, health care, housing and other public services.
The proposed removal of race and ethnicity questions could carry particular consequences for Black communities. Governments, researchers and civil-rights organizations use census demographic data to measure disparities, enforce anti-discrimination laws and identify where public resources are most needed. Without comparable racial data, advocates warn that unequal outcomes in voting, employment, education, housing and health could become harder to document.
The administration argues that the census should be “colorblind” and that people without citizenship or permanent residency lack the connection to the country required to be included in the count. Critics point to the 14th Amendment, which says House seats must be apportioned according to the “whole number of persons in each state,” not only citizens.
Race has been recorded in every decennial census since the first national count in 1790, although the categories and methods have changed substantially over time. Current census practice counts people at their usual residence regardless of citizenship or immigration status.
The proposal is expected to face legal challenges if adopted. During President Donald Trump’s first term, the Supreme Court blocked an effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, concluding that the administration’s stated rationale was contrived. A later attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from the population used for congressional apportionment also did not take effect.
For Texas and other states with large immigrant populations, a narrower count could affect political representation and billions of dollars in federal funding. The outcome could be especially significant in Houston and Harris County, where Black, Latino, Asian and immigrant communities make up much of the region’s population.
Sources: Reuters and The Washington Post, both published Sept. 9, 2026.
