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

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," the Republican president said on his social media platform, an indication he might try to inject his politics into a head count that determines political power and how federal funding is distributed.

Trump stressed that as part of the changes people in "our Country illegally" will be excluded from census counts.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, Aug. 6, 2025, in Washington. AP

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