California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Tuesday decried President Donald Trump’s executive order which will exclude Illegal aliens from being counted for purposes of congressional apportioning.
“Counting every person in our country through the Census is a principle so foundational that it is written into our Constitution,” Newsom said in a statement. “This latest action by the administration to exclude undocumented immigrants when determining representation in Congress, rooted in racism and xenophobia, is a blatant attack on our institutions and our neighbors.”
Earlier Tuesday, President Trump signed the order, saying the memorandum is designed to bar “illegal aliens from the apportionment base following the 2020 Census.”
The memorandum has sparked legal challenges as it follows the Department of Commerce losing a Supreme Court case last year where it attempted to include a question about citizenship status on the 2020 census.
Still, the memorandum said that the constitution does not require undocumented immigrants to be counted for the purpose of apportionment of the House of Representatives.
“The discretion delegated to the executive branch to determine who qualifies as an ‘inhabitant’ includes authority to exclude from the apportionment base aliens who are not in lawful immigration status,” the memorandum states. “For the purpose of the reapportionment of Representatives following the 2020 census, its is the policy of the United States to exclude from the apportionment base aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status under the Immigration and Nationality Act… Excluding these illegal aliens from the apportionment base is more consonant with the principles of representative democracy underpinning our system of government.”
In particular, the memorandum points out California as “one State” that “is home to more than 2.2 million illegal aliens, representing more than 6% of the state’s entire population.
Story cited here.
Scroll down to leave a comment:
