The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing to have illegal aliens counted when apportioning congressional representation.
On Friday, the ACLU dropped a lawsuit against the Trump administration on behalf of a number of open borders lobbying groups — including New York Immigration Coalition, Make the Road New York, CASA, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, ADC Research Institute, and FIEL Houston — demanding that illegal aliens be counted in congressional apportionment.
This week, Trump signed a memorandum to exclude illegal aliens from being counted when the federal government apportions congressional representation to the states — a reversal of existing policy that allows states with large illegal populations to soak up more political power by counting all residents rather than legal residents.
The ACLU lawsuit claims not counting illegal aliens in congressional apportionment is unconstitutional.
“The new policy of excluding undocumented immigrants from the Census conveys a xenophobic message aimed at suppressing Census participation from households containing immigrants and noncitizens,” the lawsuit states.
“Unless enjoined, the policy undoubtedly will undermine the effectiveness of the Census Bureau’s operations and deter members of immigrant communities — including undocumented immigrants, noncitizen immigrants with legal status, and United States citizens — from participating in the Census,” the lawsuit continues.
White House officials have said federal law gives the president authority to determine “the whole number of persons in each state,” which informs the allocation of congressional representatives to each state. The memorandum ensures states with small illegal alien populations are not rewarded less representation in Congress than states with large illegal alien populations.
Before Trump’s memorandum, red states that disincentivize illegal immigration were set to lose congressional representation.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) previously estimated that if there are roughly 15 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. and if they are counted in congressional apportionment, they could help secure 20 additional congressional seats for blue states.
A 2018 analysis by Breitbart News determined that only counting American citizens — excluding all non-citizens, including illegal aliens — in congressional apportionment, would shift political power away from coastal states to middle America.
Today, there are an estimated 11 to 22 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. The Census estimates that at current legal and illegal immigration levels, by 2060, about one-in-six residents will have been born outside the country.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. The case number is 1:20-cv-05781.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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