An effort by Senate Republicans to stop non-citizens, including illegal immigrants, from being counted on the census for the purposes of apportionment for House seats and the Electoral College was shot down later Friday after the measure failed to gain the support of a single Democrat.
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., moved to include an amendment, attached 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 isn’t a U.S. citizen from being counted for purposes of congressional district and Electoral College apportionment.
While the bill would also exclude legal immigrants on temporary visas and green cards from the census, the move has been undertaken explicitly to stop illegal immigrants from being counted amid millions of new arrivals at the southern border. It’s similar to a Trump-era effort to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Trump’s effort sparked widespread criticism and condemnation from Democrats and left-wing immigration groups who argued that a citizenship question was unlawful and was designed to help Republicans in future elections.
SEN HAGERTY SAYS DEMS ENGAGING IN ‘SHEER POWER GRAB’ BY TOLERATING BORDER ‘CARNAGE’
February 19, 2024: Sen. Bill Hagerty tours the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Senate Republican Conference)
Hagerty told Fox News Digital last month that he believes that Democrats in “sanctuary” cities and elsewhere are accepting of the effects of the migrant surge because they are hoping to gain greater representation in the House of Representatives and Electoral College by redistricting.
“They are seeing people leave their state. They’re seeing the potential of the next census to lose congressional districts and electoral votes. I think most people in America are shocked to find out that we count the presence of illegal immigrants in determining the allocation of congressional districts and electoral votes,”…
