Two Republican senators are seeking to change the way the 435 seats in the House of Representatives are divvied up among the states, but their legislation smacks of partisan politics.
Sens. David Vitter of Louisiana and Robert Bennett of Utah would like to base the allocation of seats, which occurs every 10 years following the census, only on the number of U.S. citizens in each state. The current process, which relies on Òthe whole number of personsÓ in each state as provided under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, means that noncitizens are counted as well.
As reported recently by Timothy Pratt in the Las Vegas Sun, the proposal has the potential to diminish NevadaÕs clout in Washington. Nevada, with an estimated 230,000 illegal immigrants, stands to gain a fourth House seat after the 2010 census, but that could be in jeopardy if noncitizens are not counted.
A larger problem with the legislation is that members of Congress, in dealing with issues and federal funding for programs, have to take into consideration the number of people in their districts who use roads, schools, hospitals, law enforcement resources and other services. That includes people who are not citizens.
Barring federal immigration policy that forces all illegal immigrants to leave the country, House members cannot effectively represent their districts if they simply ignore the impact of noncitizens. That is why those people should factor into reapportionment.
Vitter and Bennett would also create headaches for the census process by requiring questions about citizenship and immigration status. As the Sun reported, the government has printed 300Êmillion forms for next yearÕs census. Those would have to be destroyed at tremendous cost to taxpayers.
Also, it would be impossible for census takers to verify the citizenship of the more than 300Êmillion residents of this country, where we do not carry national identification cards.
There is also a good chance that many people, fearing reprisal, would choose not to participate in the census, and the problem of how to handle families made up of citizens and illegal immigrants.
This legislation is fatally flawed and should be rejected by Congress.
Copyright 2009  Las Vegas Sun
