Trump seeks to change how census collects data, wants to exclude immigrants in US illegally

President Donald Trump said Thursday he has instructed the Commerce Department to change the way Census Bureau collects data, seeking to exclude immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

The Republican president said on his social media platform the census’ data collections will be based on “modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024”, an indication he might try to inject his politics into survey work that measures everything from child poverty to business operations.

Trump stressed that as part of the changes people in “our country illegally” will be excluded from census counts.

His Truth Social post fits into an overall pattern in which he has tried to reshape basic measures of how US society is faring to his liking.

Last Friday, Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labour Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after standard revisions to the monthly jobs report showed that employers added 258,000 fewer jobs than previously reported in May and June. The revisions suggested that hiring has severely weakened under Trump, undermining his claims of an economic boom.

The White House insists that the problem was the size of the revisions and that it wants accurate numbers.