Census Change Will Cost California Five House Seats
A proposal from Republican Sen. David Vitter to count only U.S. citizens and not illegal aliens in the 2010 census would cost California five congressional seats, a new analysis of census data reveals.
The Constitution requires that congressional districts be reapportioned every 10 years based on a count of the "persons" in each state. The 2010 census form does not ask about citizenship.
Vitter's proposal would ban federal financing for the census if a citizenship question is not included. The Louisiana lawmaker argues that counting noncitizens would "artificially increase the population count" in states with large numbers of illegal aliens, and thereby give those states larger congressional delegations than they deserve.
An analysis by demographers at Queens College of the City University of New York found that not counting illegals would cost California five seats, and New York and Illinois one seat each.
Vitter's proposal would enable Louisiana, Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania to avoid the expected loss of one seat, while Montana, North Carolina, Indiana, Oregon and South Carolina would each gain a seat, The New York Times reported.
If all residents are counted in 2010, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Utah would gain one seat and Texas would get three. Under Vitter's proposal, Texas would gain only one seat, the analysis found.
Vitter said in mid-October that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants illegals to be counted so that left-leaning states with large numbers of undocumented aliens will gain seats, according to The Hill newspaper.
Illegals counted in the 2000 census gave California up to five additional seats in Congress, according to Vitter, who said: "Basically states with large illegal populations, starting with California, are rewarded and other states are penalized."
According to The Times, the prospects for Vitter's proposal in the Democratic-controlled Senate are "doubtful."
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