President Trump signed an executive action on Tuesday to prevent illegal aliens from being included in the 2020 census for congressional apportionment, saying the move is needed for “respect for the law and protection of the integrity of the democratic process,” as reported by the Washington Times.
Trump stated for determining the number of House representatives from each state, it will be U.S. policy “to exclude from the apportionment base aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status.”
In the memorandum to the Commerce Department, the president said the Constitution does not specifically define which people should be counted every 10 years to determine the number of each state’s representatives in the House. The President expanded:
Determining which persons should be considered ‘inhabitants’ for the purpose of apportionment requires the exercise of judgment. 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 a lawful immigration status.
“Trump wants to strip these communities of their fair share of representation and resources for education, health care, and nutrition assistance,” DNC Chair Tom Perez explained in a statement. “But Democrats will not let this stand. We will keep fighting Trump’s efforts to intimidate and undercount immigrant communities. And we will put an end to the hateful tactics of this administration once and for all on November 3rd when we elect Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.”
“There used to be a time when you could proudly declare, ‘I am a citizen of the United States,’ ” the president said in a statement. “But now, the radical left is trying to erase the existence of this concept and conceal the number of illegal aliens in our country. This is all part of a broader left-wing effort to erode the rights of American citizens, and I will not stand for it.”
For the full story, please visit the Washington Times.
