On Tuesday, July 21, President Trump signed an Executive Order to ensure that only citizens and legal residents of the United States are counted in the 2020 census, but excludes illegal aliens. This EO will impact on cities and states that encourage and benefit from illegal immigration like sanctuary communities, but it is a welcomed action to discourage illegal immigration.
Illegal aliens have been included in the Census tally since the 1970s. It has resulted in some states and cities increasing their apportionment of representation in Congress.
However, counting illegal aliens has denied fair representation to American citizens and legal immigrants in smaller states where fewer illegal aliens reside. States like West Virginia and South Dakota suffer at the expense if California and New York.
Besides the representation in Congress, it also robs Americans in some states of federal resources and funding that are awarded to states with large populations of illegal aliens. Outrageously, some states protect illegal aliens through sanctuary policies, then benefit with more congressional representation and funding.
Trump’s order instructs the Department of Commerce to use all available data to identify illegal aliens and subtract them from the reapportionment count. While data currently available may make it challenging to identify and them, a Supreme Court precedent affirms the president’s authority to act on the available information.
The apportionment of federal representation in the House is extremely critical to the future of the nation as a representative republic. Citizens and legal immigration should not lose out to illegal aliens in Congressional seats or federal money.
The process of including illegal aliens in the Census count for reapportionment is fundamentally unfair to law-abiding Americans and legal immigrants because it encourages and rewards illegal immigration. States and cities that undermine the legal and lawful immigration system, as well as who protect illegal aliens, should not be rewarded in any form or fashion.
President Trump should be applauded for taking this long-overdue action to assure fair representation and to discourage illegal immigration. The Census should count only citizens and legal residents, and states and communities that harbor illegal aliens should not be rewarded with more Congressional representation or addition federal funding.
Only legal American citizens should count in the Census. What’s wrong with that idea?