Removing Illegal Aliens from the Census, Restore Fair Representation

President Donald Trump’s recent directive to the Commerce Department to conduct a new U.S. Census that does not include illegal aliens is a bold move to restore integrity to one of America’s most fundamental democratic tools.

 

For too long, the inclusion of illegal alien in our republic’s census has artificially inflated congressional representation, warping federal funding, and enabling political gamesmanship through gerrymandering.

 

The clean-up campaign currently underway isn’t simply a change in policy, it’s a correction that must be made to guarantee that the census accurately represents the will of American voters and protects the notion of fair representation.

 

It’s not enough to simply label this move as important so much as it is to explain why ending the manipulation of district boundaries in states all across the nation is of significance.

 

The Census and Its Role in the Democratic Process

 

The U.S. Census, taken every ten years as mandated by the Constitution, determines how 435 members of the House of Representatives are allocated to the states. It also determines the allocation of trillions of dollars in federal funding for schools, roads, healthcare and many other things.

 

Historically, the census counted all who reside in the nation, including noncitizens, legal or otherwise. Even though the practice arose from a broad reading of the 14th Amendment’s requirement to count “the whole number of persons in each State.” But according to Constitutional jurisprudence, it undermines the voice of American citizens and encourages policies that quietly encourage illegal migration – blatant violations of the U.S. Constitution.

 

President Trump’s attempt to exclude illegal aliens from the census count has a straightforward principle: only members of the American political community present in the country legally should decide its representation. As Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller recently framed it, including illegal aliens in the census “artificially skews political power, effectively disenfranchises citizens, and incentivizes states to adopt sanctuary policies.”

 

By eliminating this issue, Trump’s plan aims to restore fairness in apportionment and ensure congressional seats are allocated according to the will of the American people.

 

The Impact of Illegal Aliens on the Census

 

Including illegal aliens in the census has tremendous ramifications. In total, there are between 10.5 to 16.8 million illegal aliens in the United States, with California, Texas, and New York having the largest populations. These individuals are included in the final census count which inflates the population of some states and their members in the Congress and Electoral College votes. This practice disproportionately assists states with large numbers of illegal alien populations, generally Democratic-leaning states, at the expense of states with smaller numbers of noncitizens.

 

Demonstrating the point, the Center for Immigration Studies estimated in 2019 that excluding illegal aliens from the 2020 Census would have deprived California and New York, both Democratic strongholds, each a House seat, while seats would be added to Alabama and Ohio.

 

Similarly, a 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center found that California, Texas, and Florida stand to lose representation if noncitizens are excluded, whilst the Republican states of Alabama and Ohio would gain. These adjustments reflect the ways in which the current system can distort political power, awarding additional influence in Congress to states that have substantial illegal populations.

 

Along with representation, the census also influences federal expenditures. In 2021, about $3 trillion of federal funds were spent based on census data, with California and New York getting an unproportionable share of funds due to their artificially inflated counts. By excluding illegal aliens, a re-run census can redirect this money so that American citizens become the priority, with taxpayer funds being utilized optimally.

 

Gerrymandering and the Census: A Recipe for Manipulation

 

The enumeration of illegal aliens in the census affects not merely apportionment but enables states to utilize census figures to gerrymander, or redraw electoral boundaries to favor one party, district boundaries. By inflating population figures with noncitizens, states can create districts that ensure maximum partisan benefit, typically at the expense of fair representation.

 

Below are two examples of how states have utilized census figures, including illegal alien numbers, to gerrymander district boundaries.

 

Example 1: California’s Sanctuary Advantage

 

California, with a projected 2 million illegal aliens, has been counting for decades on its vast army of noncitizens to boost its congressional influence. With 52 members in the House, the state wields tremendous influence in Congress, partly due to census counts that include illegal aliens. During the 2021 round of redistricting, California’s redistricting commission passed maps that critics charge helped Democratic incumbents by packing noncitizen-concentrated populations into certain districts.

 

This allowed Democrats to win “safe” seats by diluting the ballot clout of neighborhoods with a conservative bent.

 

Los Angeles and Orange County districts with heavy concentrations of noncitizens were drawn to include these neighborhoods, padding their population with artificially inflated figures without importing voting-age residents. This practice duly reduces the voting power of citizen ballots in these districts without undermining Democratic dominance. If illegal aliens had been excluded from the census, California might have lost two to five House seats, which would have triggered map redrawing that leveled the playing field for Republicans. By counting noncitizens in the census, California maps solidify Democratic dominance, a stark demonstration of the way census numbers can be used as a weapon of gerrymandering.

 

Example 2: Texas and the Redistricting Battle

 

Texas, home to an estimated 1.6 million illegal aliens, is also a state where census-based gerrymandering has been contentious.

 

In 2021, Texas Republicans proposed a congressional map that was intended to capitalize on the state’s exploding population which is partly fueled by illegal immigration, to gain seats beneficial to GOP candidates. The draft map was projected to give Republicans three to five additional House seats, primarily by packing noncitizen blocs into city districts while keeping conservative strongholds in the rural areas.

 

Nevertheless, the inclusion of illegal aliens in the census allowed Democrats to argue that these urban districts, traditionally Democratic-strongholds, should enjoy extra representation since they contained more people. This dynamic allowed Texas Democrats to bargain for maps to protect their city strongholds even as Republicans controlled the process of redistricting. The result was a contentious battle, with Democrats temporarily walking out of the state to block a vote on the maps. Such a census that didn’t include illegal aliens could have reduced Texas’s number of seats by one, which would have necessitated more even redistricting and limited either party from using noncitizens to gerrymander.

 

Why the Clean-Up Matters

 

Trump’s census purge is the first step to ensuring American citizens, and not illegal aliens, determine the nation’s political and financial fate. By excluding noncitizens from the census, the government can correct the distortions that enable gerrymandering and disproportionate apportionment. It is consistent with the constitutional principle that the government gets its authority from “We the People,” citizens who have a legitimate stake in the country’s governance.

 

Furthermore, a current census can have powerful budgetary impacts. Tennessee, for instance, spends approximately $800 million annually to teach students illegally in the country and can lose federal financing if its population counts drop. That could persuade lawmakers to fund citizens first and reassess policies taxing budgets.

 

The Road Ahead

 

Trump’s census reform has been opposed by Democratic states and groups, which contend that leaving noncitizens out of the count is a violation of the Constitution’s requirement to enumerate all “persons.” The exclusion will cause undercounts that will deprive communities of representation and resources, they argue.

 

Conservatives, on their part, say that the 14th Amendment was never meant to confer political power upon those who are violating U.S. immigration law.

 

Legal scholars like John Eastman argue that the Constitution’s exclusion of “Indians not taxed” demonstrates the founders’ intent to limit apportionment to those within the political community.

 

In conclusion, as the Trump administration prepares for court battles regarding this policy, much is on the line. Victory in cleaning-up the census could redistribute House seats to states with fewer illegal aliens, reduce the incentive for sanctuary policies, and end the practice of states gerrymandering by using artificially inflated population counts.

 

This is a fight for fairness, sovereignty, and the integrity of America’s democratic processes.

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