Kansas and Missouri Attorneys General Lead 22 States Backing Census Rule to Exclude Illegal Immigrants From Apportionment
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced on October 30 that they are leading a coalition of 22 states in support of proposed reforms by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau to revise the census "usual residence" criteria, so that people unlawfully present and temporary foreign visitors would be excluded from the population used to apportion seats in the House of Representatives.
Under the proposal, U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents would be counted for apportionment, and the rule also seeks public input on adding questions about citizenship and lawful permanent resident status to the census form. The coalition recommends that, beginning with the 2030 Census, every household be asked whether each person is a U.S. citizen and, if not, whether that person is a lawful permanent resident.
"Election integrity requires fair representation based on the American people—not political power gained by counting illegal immigrants and temporary foreign visitors," Hanaway said. Missouri cited an expert retained in its earlier suit against the Census Bureau, who concluded that California gained three congressional seats and three electoral votes in the 2021 apportionment because illegal immigrants were counted, while Missouri would have gained a seat and a vote had they not been counted.
The states joining the Missouri- and Kansas-led comment are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 堪萨斯州议会大厦（Topeka），w_lemay 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons 取得并自托管
