Several Republicans are supporting legislation that would prevent illegal immigrants from skewing Congress and presidential elections.
Illegal immigrants and noncitizens are generally prohibited from voting in federal elections, but they can influence Congress and presidential elections.
That’s because illegal immigrants can be counted in the census, which is used to allocate seats in Congress and determine the distribution of Electoral College votes.
Last month, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-North Carolina) and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) introduced a bill called the Equal Representation Act to prevent undocumented immigrants from being counted in the census. announced.
“Ever since I introduced the Equal Representation Act, alarm bells have been ringing. Awareness and momentum to address the short- and long-term effects of illegal immigration on the representation of the American people continues to grow.” Edwards told the Post.
So far, more than 70 members of the House of Representatives have co-sponsored the bill, and Edwards said that amid concerns that “illegal immigrants influencing elections is a threat to democracy,” will only continue to increase in the future,” he said with confidence.
Edwards and Davidson’s bill complements a similar bill of the same name introduced last month by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.).
More than 20 other Republican senators also support the bill.
“It is unconscionable that illegal immigrants and non-citizens be counted in the apportionment of congressional districts and electoral maps.” Mr Hagerty argued: at that time.
“As people continue to flee Democratic-run cities, desperate Democrats are trying to make sure they don’t lose their seats in Congress, keep their presidential electoral votes, and artificially increase their political power. , backfilling the mass exodus with illegal immigrants.”
So far, the bill has made little progress in the Senate and is likely to face stiff hurdles given Democratic control of the Senate and the filibuster.
Prior to the most recent census, former President Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to address the citizenship question during his time in office.
This strategy provoked a fierce backlash from the Democratic Party, and ultimately blocked by the Supreme Court Instead, the Trump administration asked government agencies to come up with workarounds to survey the national population.
The Equal Representation Act would also require the U.S. Census Bureau to include a question on citizenship status.
In 2021, President Biden issued a presidential order The census requires all residents to be counted, regardless of citizenship status.
The next decennial census is scheduled to take place in 2030.
Once the next census is completed, that data will be used to determine how many congressional seats and electoral votes a particular state receives.
Each state will then consider whether to redraw Congress, and each party will try to use the process to gain any advantage it can get over the other side.
For now, several states, including New York, remain mired in redistricting skirmishes, even though most states have completed their redistricting processes ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. .
Other states, including Wisconsin and Michigan, also have ongoing battles over the lines of their state legislatures.
Efforts to ensure the census is limited to U.S. citizens only are looming over a recent surge in immigration to the U.S. mainland.
last month US Customs and Border Protection The number of encounters with migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border totaled 156,000, down from about 302,000 in December.
The Border Patrol previously reported that encounters would reach record levels in fiscal year 2023.
