Trump expected to exclude undocumented migrants from US census

United States President Donald Trump is expected to soon issue an executive order that would ban undocumented immigrants from being included in the 2020 census of the country.

Trump's power to limit the counting of immigrants is, however, questionable. Longstanding Supreme Court precedent has interpreted the US Constitution as requiring that the House districts be based on total population. State-level legislative districts don't necessarily have to include non-citizens, but they are drawn by states, not the federal government.

The government's census count helps in determining where taxpayer money is spent for building public facilities like schools, hospitals and fire departments, as well as calculating states' apportionment in the US House of Representatives.

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The Trump administration has long sought to use the census as a vehicle to identify, and possibly limit the political power of, undocumented immigrants. In 2018, the administration said it would ask respondents to the 2020 census whether they were citizens, a move ultimately nixed by the US Supreme Court.

Immigration advocates had then argued the question would frighten Hispanics and immigrants into abstaining from the census, potentially costing their communities political representation and federal aid dollars that are doled out based on population.

Republicans close to Trump also wanted citizenship data so that conservative US states could more easily exclude non-citizens when they redraw voting maps in the next round of redistricting.

(with inputs from agencies)