Legislation pushed by Senate Republicans to exclude non-citizens, including illegal immigrants, from being tallied on the census for the purposes of apportionment for House seats and the Electoral College was defeated late Friday after failing to get support from a single Democrat.
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) proposed an amendment to the $460 billion spending package that would require the Census Bureau to include a citizenship question in any future census and then bar anyone who is not a US citizen from being counted for congressional district and Electoral College apportionment.
While the plan would also exclude legal immigrants on temporary visas and green cards from the census, the move is specifically intended to prevent illegal immigrants from being counted amid millions of new entries into the United States under the Biden regime.
The law would be comparable to a Trump administration plan to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Democrats and left-wing immigration organizations slammed Trump’s move, claiming that a citizenship issue was illegal and intended to benefit Republicans in future elections.
The Heritage Foundation’s Lora Ries and the President of the National Immigration Center For Enforcement R.J. Hauman co-wrote an essay warning that illegal immigration is causing “warped representation” in Congress.
“Barring the Census from including non-citizens in apportionment is critical in making sure that American citizens — the only population who can and should vote in U.S. elections — are picking America’s leaders,” Ries and Hauman wrote, warning that the crisis is “distorting the representation that states have in the House, and how many electoral votes they have in presidential elections.”
However, Hagerty’s proposal failed because 51 Democrats and Independents voted against it or were absent. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican, also voted against the plan. All other Republicans either supported the bill or were not present. The result was 51 to 45 against.
Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X, reacted to the legislative defeat.
Most Americans do not know that the US census currently counts, for purposes of voting power, all people in a district, regardless of citizenship!
Senate Democrats just voted unanimously to defeat an amendment that would have stopped counting illegals for congressional seat… https://t.co/5gXt4Z1wzP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 9, 2024
“Most Americans do not know that the US census currently counts, for purposes of voting power, all people in a district, regardless of citizenship!” he wrote. “Senate Democrats just voted unanimously to defeat an amendment that would have stopped counting illegals for congressional seat apportionment and electoral college (presidential) votes.”
“Since illegals are mostly in Democrat states, both the House and the Presidential vote are shifted ~5% to the left, which is enough to change the entire balance of power!” he added. “This is a major reason why the Biden administration is ushering in record levels of illegals and doing so few deportations.”
Stacy Washington, a political commentator, added more context.
Democrats would not have the border open without the SCOTUS decision requiring non citizens to be counted in the CENSUS.
These illegals cannot legally vote. But they can increase the number of seats in the House of Representatives, ensuring Democrats have control of the House.
— Stacy Washington (@StacyOnTheRight) March 9, 2024
“Democrats would not have the border open without the SCOTUS decision requiring non citizens to be counted in the CENSUS,” she noted. “These illegals cannot legally vote. But they can increase the number of seats in the House of Representatives, ensuring Democrats have control of the House.”
Another commentator, @DogRightGirl, also noted the implications of the vote.
“Democrat Senators just admitted they use illegals (in census) to gain Congressional seats,” she said. “All Dems voted against Sen. Bill Hagerty’s amendment to stop illegal aliens from being counted in apportionment for congressional districts and the Electoral College.”
