President Trump's call for a new census is foreshadowing a potential constitutional clash.

The pronouncement came in a social media post in which he added that, quote,

people who are in our country illegally will not be counted.

John Yang explores what the president hopes to achieve and how his requested recount

aligns with another of his priorities, redrawing congressional maps.

Jeff, excluding those without legal status from the census would mean millions of people living in America go uncounted,

reshaping the contours of the country's congressional districts.

Opponents argued that it would violate the 14th Amendment's requirement that the

allocation of congressional seats be determined by counting the whole number of persons in

each state. Hansi Lo Wong covers the census for NPR. Hansi, the Constitution makes the

census a congressional responsibility. How much say does a president have?

President has some say that Congress could delegate to his administration and what the Commerce

Secretary who oversees the Census Bureau then has to carry out the census. This is codified in federal

law. But like you said, I think we have to go back to Article I of the

Constitution gives ultimate authority over the census to Congress. Congress has passed laws

with directions on how presidential administration should carry out census seats.

And how might using the authority that they do have, how might the Trump administration try to get around that, the congressional requirement?

There is a federal law that says there could be a mid-decade census, but a lot of caveats to put there.

It's a mid-decade census that right now that's really outside the timeframe, that can't really be carried out at this point.

But there is a bill

that President Trump says he supports. It's a bill, a proposal by Republican Representative Marjorie

Taylor Green of Georgia. And this bill would exclude any U.S. resident without citizenship. So not just

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