Redrawing districts should not include numbers of illegal immigrants.
On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order to prevent illegal immigrants from being counted for the purposes of drawing congressional districts after the 2020 census. His actions refueled an intense debate from last year on including illegal immigrants in the census count.
The president’s order says that for the purposes of reapportionment, “it is the policy of the United States to exclude from the apportionment base aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status… to the maximum extent feasible and consistent with the discretion delegated to the executive branch.”
Census counts are used to determine the allocation of seats in the House of Representatives, the number of electors in the Electoral College and hundreds of billion dollars of federal spending. However, it is not clear how the administration would determine who was in the country illegally since the census currently does not either include a citizenship question, or the additional question about legal immigration status.
In 25 states, the state legislature has the primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to the approval of the governor. To reduce political gamesmanship, other states have bipartisan or independent redistricting commissions. Rules for redistricting are often found within state constitutions and in federal law.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For state legislatures and redistricting commissions as they look to the 2020 census for redistricting and eliminate the inclusion of illegal immigrants.
- About how the removal of illegal immigrants from the count could affect the districts of some states.
- About the protection of the right and privilege of citizens to vote.
Sources: Fox News, Washington Post
