WASHINGTON – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would include the citizenship question in the census and exclude non-citizens from the official head count when determining the population for representation in Congress and elections.
The legislation passed 206-202 Party line voteis part of a trend in House Republican bills on immigration ahead of the November election. Republicans and their presumptive presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, have focused their campaigns on immigration.
The Trump administration tried to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, but the The Supreme Court blocked it.
“We should not reward states and cities that violate federal immigration laws and maintain sanctuary policies with increased representation in Congress,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement after the bill’s passage. “Common sense dictates that only American citizens should be considered in the distribution of votes.”
The bill, HR 7109, sponsored by North Carolina GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards, if signed into law, would impact the 2030 census and beyond.
The census, which takes place every 10 years, helps with this determine Congressional seats in the House of Representatives and can determine political power.
Since the first census in 1790 Citizens and non-citizens were included in the official U.S. population count because of the 14th Amendment’s requirement to include “the whole number of persons in every state.”
Edwards argued during debate on the bill that the Constitution does not provide that non-citizens should be counted in the census.
He argued that the word “persons” has “no definition” in the 14th Amendment.
It is unlikely to pass the Senate, which Democrats narrowly control, and the White House has already introduced a proposal Statement against the bill.
The White House said the bill “would prevent the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau from fulfilling its constitutional responsibility to count the number of people in the United States in the decennial census” and would “make it more complex to accurately to receive data”.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that the census remains as accurate as possible, free from political interference, and upholding the longstanding principle of equal representation enshrined in our Constitution, census laws, and historical tradition,” said the White House .
Numbers padded in Democratic areas, the GOP claims
During the House debate, Republicans argued that areas with high immigrant populations deprive U.S. citizens of representation in Congress and benefit Democratic-led states.
“This is absolutely outrageous,” said Republican Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana. “This is 100% about stacking the votes.”
Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee said states with more non-citizens “will get more congressional districts and more electoral votes.” He said those votes would also benefit Democrats and “skewer things in their favor.”
Democrats warn of undernumbering of Hispanics
Democrats argued that the bill would not only violate the Constitution, but would also harm immigrant communities by undercounting and could jeopardize the accuracy of the census.
“The census is essential to democracy,” said Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland. “This bill would destroy the accuracy of the census, which may have something to do with their real motivations.”
Raskin added that the bill would not only exclude all non-citizens, including lasting residents with green cards, “who are on the path to citizenship.”
Raskin said the GOP’s move to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census created a chilling effect and led to an undercount of communities of color, particularly Hispanics.
There were six states – Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas – that had fewer people 2020 Census than were estimated to live there.
Nationally, there was a record undercount of about 3 million Hispanics in the 2020 census. according to the Pew Research Center.
According to Pew, eight states — Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah — had overcounts.
The chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán of California, said the bill would have a chilling effect on the accuracy of the census and would harm immigrant communities.
“It is a bill that threatens the fair and equal representation of immigrant communities,” she said.
