Missing Millions: U.S. Census undercounts population — especially Texas

Please, raise your hand if you believe that the 2020 US Census only undercounted Texas’s population by 1.9 percent, according to the U.S Census Bureau.

Good. I have a toll bridge to sell you at Progreso. Cash only.

In South Texas’s four counties, every elected official with a functioning brain knows the census undercounts our population every 10 years, but they don’t have the power to change anything.

Last week, we learned over the news feed that President Donald Trump wants to make sure that the next census, planned for 2030, will intentionally avoid counting the people who are here in this country illegally.

In fact, last Thursday, the president wrote on Truth Social that he had ordered the Commerce Department to begin work on a new census that excludes undocumented immigrants:

“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.”

_{Census Bureau logo | Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census}

The next full census is planned for 2030. The White House had no immediate comment on whether the president is calling for a head count before that. (Source: Reuters.)

According to the same Reuters story, published Aug. 7, Trump has long railed against the inclusion of illegal immigrants when it comes to our official head count, which dates back to the first U.S. Census in 1790.

The president said he has instructed the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, to “immediately begin work” on a census using “the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024.”

What that has to do with anything, who knows, since presidential election results have never been a part of the census formula.

Executive Orders

Upon taking office in 2021, former President Joe Biden used an executive order to affirm the longstanding practice of including all people residing in a state in the official count, regardless of their legal status. Trump revoked that order on his first day in office this term.

A census expert from the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, Sean Moulton, told Reuters, “If we don’t count everybody, we wind up misspending our money on infrastructure and hospitals, schools, power grids and water, so everyone winds up being inconvenienced and encountering problems.”

In Hidalgo County, it’s been a bone of contention for years that not only is this county being undercounted every 10 years, but so is all of South Texas. As such, we lose out on millions of federal dollars to shore up the needs to care for so many stuck in poverty, for whatever reason.

Last week, a statement issued by the U.S. Commerce Dept. read:

“The Census Bureau will immediately adopt modern technology tools for use in the Census to better understand our robust Census data. We will accurately analyze the data to reflect the number of legal residents in the United States.”

Yeah, but what about the number of illegal residents?

Every 10 years, the census is undercounted. Here, there, everywhere.

Too many people, for whatever reason, don’t fill out the census card. They don’t answer the door when the census workers come calling.

That was before ICE started deporting people. Now, there will be even fewer people answering the door, willing to divulge information with regard to how many people live at any one residence.

Since taxpayer dollars are used for public services, to help care for people who are here regardless of their legal status, does this make sense to anyone?

To increase the number of people being undercounted, forcing more of the cost for social services on to the backs of local taxpayers?