(Alan Wooten, The Center Square) The bill requiring that the count for apportionment in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Electoral College, include only U.S. citizens has passed the House and been sent to the Senate.
The measure proposed by U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C.., passed the chamber 206-202 with no Democrats for it and no Republicans against it. On Thursday it was read for the first time in the Senate, where Democrats have a majority and similar legislation has been introduced and parked to go nowhere.
In 2020 and years before, the decennial census count included all persons. Prompting the proposal is the radical change in American border security, which began in 2021 when Joe Biden succeeded Donald Trump as the President of the United States.
Since then, reports from the government, The Center Square, and other media outlets indicate possibly more than 11 million people have come into or are living in the country illegally. Blame and focus have been shifted to intentionally score political points, including Democrats saying the Republicans are the cause and vice versa.
Speaking on the House floor, Edwards said, “Though commonsense dictates that only citizens should be counted for apportionment purposes, illegal aliens have nonetheless recently been counted toward the final tallies that determine how many House seats each state is allocated and the number of electoral votes it will wield in presidential elections. And since the illegal alien population is not evenly distributed throughout the nation, American citizens in some states are losing representation in Congress to illegal aliens in other states.”
He confirmed a history lesson, noting a citizenship question was on the census from 1820 until removal in 1960. It was taken off because illegal immigration was negligible. In 2016, Trump by executive order restored it to the questionnaire.
“To be a member of a political community,” Edwards said, “you must be an eligible voter. Illegal immigrants and non-citizens are not eligible voters.
“Our lawless immigration system is already shaking the confidence of the American people in countless ways. Without reforms to how our census is conducted, confidence in the integrity of our electoral system could be eroded entirely in the coming decade.”
House Resolution 7109 was not voted on by 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats, including North Carolina Reps. Patrick McHenry and Dr. Greg Murphy on the GOP side and Valerie Foushee among Democrats. Murphy did make his feelings known in a statement, saying, “As a co-sponsor, I am wholeheartedly against the efforts by the Biden administration to influence congressional district census manipulation.
“We must fight this obvious attempt to swing elections for Democrats, who unanimously voted against it.”
Gallup polling released on April 30 asked respondents the most important problem facing America, and 27% said immigration. The government was second at 18%. In January, both got over 20% with the government slightly ahead.
The estimate of people entering or living in the country illegally since Biden took office has exceeded 11 million. His recent “strategy” proposal on immigration was crushed by critics.
Said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, “Biden inherited the most secure border with the lowest illegal immigration since last century. With the stroke of a pen, he proudly ended those secure border policies and opened the border to more than 11 million illegal immigrants from more than 150 different countries – including known terrorists, murderers, and rapists. Now, desperately grasping to salvage his failed presidency, President Biden attempts the most minimal action possible, hoping to mask the crisis he created.”
Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee introduced similar legislation in Senate Resolution 4292. Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., responded on social media to Lee’s post writing, “This shouldn’t even be a question. Only U.S. citizens should vote in federal elections.”
Lee’s proposal, with Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., one of eight co-sponsors, is parked in the rules committee of the chamber with 49 Republicans, 48 Democrats and three independents caucusing with Democrats that provides party majority.
Bishop is one of 114 co-sponsors to Edwards’ proposal, as is fellow North Carolinians Murphy and David Rouzer.
