Congressional Apportionment Should Exclude Noncitizens, Per Bipartisan Public Opinion
Source: Ben Weingarten. "Even Democrats Oppose Letting Foreign Citizens Tilt The House." September 30, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that most Americans—including a majority of Democrats—want congressional seats distributed based only on U.S. citizens, not total residents (which includes illegal immigrants). He uses a new poll to support the Trump administration's push to change census and apportionment rules, arguing this reflects bipartisan consensus rather than a partisan issue.
Conclusion
The apportionment base for congressional seats should be limited to U.S. citizens (excluding illegal aliens and other noncitizens), and the census should include a citizenship question to facilitate this.
Premises
- A new McLaughlin & Associates poll shows 65% of likely voters, including 54% of Democrats and 60% of independents, believe apportionment should be based solely on U.S. citizens.
- 75% of likely voters, including nearly two-thirds of Democrats, agree the census should ask respondents to disclose citizenship status.
- Current policy counts all 'residents' regardless of immigration status, which disproportionately allocates House seats and Electoral College votes to states with large noncitizen populations, including sanctuary jurisdictions.
- This current practice dilutes the voting power of American citizens and entrenches foreign influence in the political system.
- The Commerce Department has proposed a rule to exclude noncitizens (except green card holders) from apportionment counts, aligning policy with public opinion.
- Bipartisan support for these policies indicates they are not merely partisan preferences but reflect broadly shared democratic principles about who should be represented.
- A majority of respondents (52%) lack confidence in the accuracy of the 2030 census due to reliance on statistical algorithms/projections rather than actual headcounts, and would have more confidence if an actual count were mandated.
Assumptions
- Representation in Congress should be tied to citizenship status rather than mere physical residency.
- Public opinion polling accurately reflects durable, informed preferences on complex constitutional/statistical policy questions.
- Counting noncitizens in apportionment constitutes 'foreign influence' rather than legitimate representation of all persons residing in a state.
- The poll's framing and methodology (commissioned by an advocacy organization, FAIR Election Fund) produced unbiased, representative results.
- Excluding noncitizens from apportionment is constitutionally permissible and consistent with the Constitution's 'actual enumeration' requirement.
- The Census Bureau's use of statistical methods (differential privacy, algorithmic adjustments) is inherently illegitimate rather than a reasonable technical necessity.