NC Representatives Push To Block Noncitizens From Census Count

By Brianna Kraemer
Carolina Journal

A bill backed by four North Carolina representatives has once again been introduced in the US House of Representatives to prevent noncitizens from being included in the population count that determines the nationwide apportionment of House seats and Electoral College votes. 

Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards, NC-11, sponsored the bill earlier this month to prevent illegal immigrants from influencing each state’s congressional representation apportionment. North Carolina Representatives Mark Harris, NC-08, Brad Knott, NC-13, and David Rouzer, NC-07, have signed on as co-sponsors, along with 48 other Republicans in Congress. 

The legislation, which passed the House last May but did not make progress in the Democrat-controlled Senate, would add a question to the census about citizenship status so that only citizens who complete the census are counted for election representation purposes. 

In an interview with the Carolina Journal, Edwards said he visited the southern border during his first year in Congress and saw the travesties firsthand.

“As I got to talking to local citizens, local law enforcement, and local elected leaders at just what they thought that the motivation of ignoring the problem at the border might be, there was one message that came through loud and clear, and that was so that the Electoral College and representative districts would be distorted by continuing to count noncitizens in apportionment for drawing those districts,” explained Edwards. 

With a Republican-controlled Congress and White House that have already pushed through sweeping policies to address the southern border and illegal immigration, Edwards is confident that the legislation will become law during the session. However, he remains unsure when it will be taken to the floor for a vote, as there is less urgency being that the next census is not until 2030.

“I am overly confident that it will actually become law because it supports the opinion of the American people, the people that I represent, the people that I hear from,” Edwards added. “Not just Republicans but many Democrats believe that noncitizens should not be afforded the ultimate right to select the local leaders.”

In other recent efforts to contain illegal immigration, the House passed a bill to deport or deny US entry to illegal aliens who are convicted of sex offenses. President Trump signed an executive order this week to exclude birthright citizenship from individuals born in the United States whose parents are not citizens and lawfully in the US, or whose parents are only temporarily present.

“I believe that President Trump, very quickly after being sworn in, kept his promise to the American people and put actions in place to permanently lock down the southern border, and now it’s Congress’s job to get the resources to the southern border that are necessary to make sure that that happens, and we are well underway in putting forth a reconciliation bill that will be largely focused on closing the southern border.”