The growing numbers of unlawful migrants in Democrat-controlled cities are threatening to alter the apportionment of the House of Representation and dilute the number of Electoral College delegates assigned to states with fewer unlawful migrants, according to immigration experts.
Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital that changes made by the Biden administration regarding census data collection could have significant consequences for Americans.
“Illegal immigration has all kinds of effects, and among them is that it distorts the mechanics of democratic government,” Krikorian claimed. “Illegal immigrants aren’t even supposed to be here, so their inclusion in the census count for purposes of apportionment really is outrageous. Is it healthy for our democratic process to be distorted this way? The answer is no.”
The Dallas Express reported that December 2023 saw the largest number of unlawful migrant encounters at the southern border, totaling more than 300,000 individuals, with the majority logged in Texas.
The Biden administration directed the U.S. Census Bureau to count all migrants — lawful and unlawful — as part of the population through an executive order in January 2021. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, 16.8 million unlawful migrants are living in the United States, effectively equating to 22 House seats.
Fox News pointed out that the number of Electoral College delegates assigned to a state is based on the number of congressional representative seats held by the state, meaning states with higher populations essentially have more influence over the outcome of presidential elections than smaller states.
Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, published an essay in February to call attention to the issue. She said the matter “should have a white-hot spotlight on it.”
“Barring the Census from including noncitizens in apportionment is critical in making sure that American citizens … are picking America’s leaders,” Ries wrote, per Fox News. “Biden’s intentional border crisis has produced unprecedented apportionment issues, distorting the representation that states have in the House, and how many electoral votes they have in presidential elections.”
In an interview with Fox News, the director of research for NumbersUSA, Eric Ruark, said that federal taxpayer money is directed to states with higher populations, which the counting of unlawful migrants as residents artificially increases.
“To have a democratic society, you need to recognize limits on who qualifies as a citizen or as someone who has representation,” Ruark said. “And I don’t know if Americans really believe that anyone who shows up and comes over the border should be represented equally in Congress as compared to American citizens.”
Former President Donald Trump had previously banned counting unlawful migrants for census purposes, a move that President Joe Biden criticized and then reversed upon assuming office.
“The goal of the Census is clear: count every person. But Donald Trump continues to use this vital process to sow division and scare immigrant communities. We won’t let him deny communities the funding and representation they deserve. Because in America, everyone counts,” Biden posted on Twitter back in 2020.
A group of senators and House members have introduced legislation this year to put an end to the counting of unlawful migrants. A bill in the Senate would require a citizenship question to be added to the census, a move attempted by former President Donald Trump in 2019 that met with backlash and an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling.
“While people continue to flee Democrat-run cities, desperate Democrats are back-filling the mass exodus with illegal immigrants so that they do not lose their seats in Congress and maintain electoral votes for the presidency and hence artificially boost their political power, which in turn dilutes the power of other Americans’ votes,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said, per Fox News.