President Trump on Thursday said he had instructed the Department of Commerce to "immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate" census that would exclude undocumented immigrants .

President Donald Trump on Thursday instructed the Commerce Department to have the Census Bureau start work on a new census that would exclude immigrants who are in the United States illegally from the head count which determines political power and federal spending.

The push comes as the president and his allies are pressing Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps to benefit their party.