The House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday evening to add a citizenship question to the next U.S. census, with zero Democrats voting in favor.
“If you are an illegal immigrant, you should not be represented in the U.S. Congress,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital after the vote. “It’s a shame that House Democrats are allowing their open-borders agenda to get in the way of common sense.”
The legislation is called the Equal Representation Act, led by Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C. In addition to including a question on citizenship status on the census, the bill would also exclude non-citizens from the population count when factoring how many lawmakers in the House of Representatives each state gets, as well as the number of electors for all 50 states.
It passed along party lines with 206 Republicans in favor and 202 Democrats against.
House Republicans say the census question is necessary due to the number of illegal immigrants who have come to the U.S. on President Biden’s watch. (Photo by Randee Daddona/Newsday RM via Getty Images/Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“Though commonsense dictates that only citizens should be counted for apportionment purposes, illegal aliens have nonetheless recently been counted toward the final tallies that determine how many House seats each state is allocated and the number of electoral votes it will wield in presidential elections,” Edwards said during debate on the bill. “And since the illegal alien population is not evenly distributed throughout the nation, American citizens in some states are losing representation in Congress to illegal aliens in other states.”
There was some uncertainty over whether the bill would pass given near-uniform opposition from Democrats as well as some Republicans.
Two House GOP aides told Fox News Digital earlier Wednesday that Republican lawmakers in New York and California, as well as several other establishment GOP members had reservations about the bill.
And Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can afford precious little dissent, overseeing just a one-seat majority in the House.
A majority of House Republicans support the bill, however, citing the record levels of illegal immigrants who have come to the U.S. under President Biden’s tenure.
Including a citizenship question on the U.S. census is not a new idea, however – former President Trump tried to have it added before the 2020 census, but it was blocked by the Supreme Court.
One of the Democrats speaking out against the bill ahead of the Wednesday vote was Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
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Rep. Nanette Barragan was among the Democrats who spoke out against the bill. (Getty Images)
“This requirement would deprive tens of millions of immigrants their right to representation,” Barragan said, adding it would have a “chilling effect on participation in the census.”
“Its accuracy would be destroyed,” she said.
Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., a supporter of the bill, argued it would not negate the census’ intended purpose of counting everyone in the U.S.
“While this bill will continue to count every person in the United States, it adds a simple question – are you a United States citizen?” Higgins posed. “The problem is the level of illegal persons who now live in our country because of President Biden’s failure at the southern border.”
A New York Republican in favor of the bill, Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., said on the House floor, “We’re talking millions of people who are not American citizens having a major say in American elections.”
Another lawmaker supporting the bill, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., accused Democrats of opposing the bill because it would negatively impact their power in Congress.
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Rep. Tim Burchett accused Democrats of opposing the bill because he argued it benefits them to oppose it. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
“You could see why my Democratic colleagues would have a problem with this bill. Factoring illegal aliens into the process skews things in their favor,” Burchett said. “If the census does not include the citizenship question, states with more illegal aliens will get more congressional districts and more electoral college votes.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, argued against the bill, “I’m for a whole lot more lawful immigration to America, less unlawful immigration to America…and a lot less demagoguery about who we are as a country.”
He later added, “One should be clear that under this legislation, they’re roping out of reapportionment not just undocumented people, they’re roping out permanent residents…they’re talking about disenfranchising from the reapportionment process, millions of people who are lawfully [in the U.S.].”
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]
