February 1, 2021 3:46 p.m. Like so many episodes in the Trump era, one of the administration’s most audacious moves was first made public in a tweet. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was in a bind. At the time, a court order giving the Census Bureau more time to finish its count put in jeopardy Trump’s plan to fundamentally change how political power is doled out across the country. The President wanted to exclude undocumented immigrants from the congressional apportionment count, which would starve immigrant-friendly states of House seats while boosting the representation of whiter, more reliably Republican parts of the country.