Trump To Sign Memorandum Excluding Illegal Immigrants From Congressional Representation

President Trump plans to sign a memorandum on Tuesday excluding undocumented immigrants from the census, the latest in a series of efforts to decrease Democratic representation in Congress and the electoral college, but one which experts say is in direct violation of constitutional principles.

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KEY FACTS

“Today, President Trump will sign an Apportionment Memorandum on Ensuring American Citizens Receive Proper Representation in Congress,” a senior White House official told Forbes. “This action will clarify that illegal aliens are not to be included for the purpose of apportionment of Representatives following the 2020 Census.”

The official asserted that “excluding illegal aliens for the purpose of apportionment reflects a better understanding of our Constitution and democratic principles.”

An administration official also told Reuters the document will be “another decisive step toward fulfilling [Trump’s] solemn pledge to ensure only American citizens have congressional representation, not illegal aliens”

The Trump administration has sought for years to limit the representation of illegal immigrants in the census and congressional redistricting, but the effort has been repeatedly quashed by the courts.

The Supreme Court blocked an effort to include a question on citizenship in the census in June 2019, ruling it a violation of the constitution’s enumeration clause, which mandates Congressional representation, but sent it back to a district court for further deliberation.

The administration ended its effort to pursue the citizenship question through the courts last July, but Trump vowed to find work-arounds.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“Today I’m here to say we are not backing down on our effort to determine the citizenship status of the United States population,” Trump said last July. “I stand before you to outline new steps my administration is taking to ensure that citizenship is counted so that we know how many citizens we have in the United States. Makes sense?”

CHIEF CRITIC

“This is blatantly unconstitutional,” tweeted Mother Jones writer Ari Berman. “Census required by 14th amendment to count ‘whole number of persons in each state’ for Congressional representation, which includes undocumented immigrants.”

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

It’s unclear what effect, if any, the memorandum will have. However, New York Times reporter Katie Rogers noted it would “draw an immediate legal challenge 105 days before election.”