Ensuring a Lawful and Accurate Enumeration and Apportionment Pursuant to the Decennial Census
The order revokes two Trump-era executive documents that sought to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census apportionment base, and directs the Secretary of Commerce to count all residents — regardless of immigration status — when preparing the population tabulation used to allocate House seats among the states.
It restores the longstanding constitutional practice of basing congressional apportionment on the total number of persons in each state, a methodology that determines how many House Representatives each state receives after every decennial census.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs the Secretary of Commerce to prepare the population tabulation required under federal census law — the report sent to the President and used to apportion House seats — using the whole number of persons in each state without regard to immigration status. It also directs the Secretary to use the same total-persons count in population reports furnished to state governors and legislative redistricting officials. The order expressly revokes Executive Order 13880 of July 11, 2019 (which sought to collect citizenship status data in the census) and the Presidential Memorandum of July 21, 2020 (which directed that undocumented immigrants be excluded from the apportionment base to the maximum extent feasible).
The order does not itself produce the final apportionment numbers; it sets the binding legal direction under which the Secretary must prepare those numbers. No exemptions or carve-outs are created. Standard general-provisions language preserves existing agency authorities and clarifies the order creates no private legal rights enforceable in court.
Who it affects
The Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau, whose legal instructions for preparing the 2020 Census apportionment report are directly altered. All states are affected because the apportionment base determines how many House seats each receives, which in turn shapes federal representation for every U.S. resident.
Why it matters
States with large undocumented immigrant populations — primarily California, Texas, New York, and Florida — retain the full resident-population count for apportionment, preserving their current House seat totals. States that would have gained seats under an immigration-status-adjusted count will not see that gain.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The Secretary of Commerce prepares the apportionment tabulation under 13 U.S.C. 141(b) and transmits it to the President, who then certifies House seat allocations to Congress. By issuing this directive before that tabulation was finalized, the order ensures the Census Bureau calculates the count without an immigration-status filter. The Secretary must also apply the same whole-number standard to the state-level redistricting reports sent to governors under 13 U.S.C. 141(c). No separate rulemaking is required; the order's instructions are self-effectuating within the existing statutory reporting chain.
Actions and deadlines
- Prepare and report to the President the total population tabulation by state without regard to immigration status, as required for apportionment
- Provide state governors and redistricting officials population tabulations reflecting all persons regardless of immigration status
- Take all necessary steps to ensure total population information presented to the President and states is accurate and legally compliant
Agencies directed to act
Authority and reach
What this order changes
Revokes Executive Order 13880