As midterm elections near, the discussion about allowing illegal immigrants to be counted in the census is once again gaining momentum. Missouri is the latest to file a federal lawsuit, claiming that counting illegals is unconstitutional because it dilutes American citizens’ votes while giving blue states more representation in Congress.
A report by the US Census Bureau was recently released, and as Liberty Nation News reported, it might indicate a blue state depression. CNN’s data man, Harry Enten, suggested this was a result of so many people moving from blue states to red ones. But there’s more going on than just people relocating.
The midterms are less than a year away, and the party loyalists are eager to get certain rules and policies in place before Americans hit the voting booths. Even as the SAVE Act and Make Elections Great Again Act work their way through the political aisles, some states already require voter ID and proof of citizenship for the right and privilege to cast their ballots. Meanwhile, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway leads the charge in a lawsuit that demands the Census Bureau redo its population count from the 2020 census, excluding all illegal immigrants and visa holders. But that’s not all. The agency also wants to make it a requirement that the agency recalculate the number of seats each state should have acquired in the House.
The lawyers in the lawsuit claim that the policy “steals federal representation from Missourians, and transfers it to States who artificially inflate their population by harboring illegal aliens.”
The US Census Bureau began counting people in 1790 to determine the number of representatives each state would have based on its population. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution specifies that representatives shall be apportioned by “counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.” This is where the battle seems to be at an impasse: the term ‘persons.’ So far, courts have agreed that persons means everyone residing in an area, whether they are there legally or not. However, critics argue that illegal immigrants should not be representing legal citizens and helping determine who goes to the White House. They argue that the Founding Fathers likely didn’t imagine immigration so out of control as it is today.
In a statement, Hanaway said Missouri voters “can no longer ignore the ongoing denial of their right to self-government and fair representation.” She added: “The framers of the Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment never intended an absurd system where 15 million illegal trespassers can hijack representation in the federal government and commandeer the path to the White House.”
The American Redistricting Project, funded by the GOP, researched maps based on recent Census data and found that red states would gain more seats in 2030 if US citizens were the only ‘persons’ to be included in the population count.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair took to social media to raise the alarm about counting illegal immigrants in the census. “Translation: not counting illegals in the census for purposes of apportionment (E.g., doing the Constitutional way) moves a net 22 House Seats & Electoral Votes from Blue States to Red States.”
Are politicians working toward a fairer election or a way to stack the odds in their favor as much as possible before the voting begins? President Donald Trump has warned that if the Democrats win in the midterms, the Republicans will lose the House. Texas, California, and other states have battled to redistrict their territories – justified or not. Several policies are working their way through the political loops. And depending on which ones are passed and the outcomes of certain lawsuits, the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election may have a whole new way of doing things.
Liberty Vault: The Constitution of the United States
