We have a problem that must be fixed and fixed quickly. In 2010, the question asking whether a person is a United States of America citizen was removed from the decennial census questionnaire. The result has been that all people — citizen and non-citizen — have been counted. This has resulted in a distortion of representation under the U.S. Constitution for Congress and for the Electoral College that selects our President and Vice President.
The Equal Representation Act (S. 3659/H.R. 7109), introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Reps. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), requires the Census Bureau to include a citizenship question on all future decennial censuses and subsequently prohibits all non-citizens from being counted toward congressional district and Electoral College apportionment. The bill also requires that the Census Bureau publicly report on citizenship status data obtained from the census questionnaire. This bill has passed in the House of Representatives. It is on to the Senate.
A central purpose of the Census is to provide an accurate and fair count of the U.S. population – including the number of citizens and non-citizens. But the Census should not be used to take resources and representation away from American citizens in favor of illegal immigrants. Because the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives is a fixed 435, districts that have a large population not legally allowed to vote allots a disproportionate weight to the legal voters in those districts. Counting non-citizens rewards states with extra congressional districts – and representation in Congress – they do not deserve. Similarly, it unfairly skews presidential elections because electoral votes are allocated based on the number of congressional representatives in each state.
Congress must address the influence of a growing non-citizen population that is unfairly altering representation in the House, Electoral College votes, and billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to blue states with sanctuary cities. These allocations should be based solely on the needs of American citizens. In fact, Thomas Jefferson understood this more than 200 years ago when acknowledging a complete Census – with a citizenship question – was critical to preserving America’s representative democracy.
And, as an aside, non-citizens must not be allowed to vote in any election, local/state/or national. This privilege is for citizens only. Proof of citizenship and voter ID are a must in all future elections.