Speech #960219784

Mr. President. by its deliberate efforts to include illegal aliens in its count of the population of the United States. the Census Bureauwith the full and enthusiastic backing of the Carter administrationhas set out to rob the people of Missouri of 1 of their 10 Representatives in the Congress of the United States. I protest this policy. Excluding illegal aliens. current population projections indicate that Missouri should neither gain nor lose a congressional seat following reapportionment pursuant to the 1980 census. However. when illegal aliens are included in the count. the result is significantly different. Although estimates of illegal aliens residing in the United States run as high as 12 million. the Library of Congress predicts a count as low as 4.5 million could cost the State of Missouriwhich harbors few illegal aliens1 congressional Representativeall to the advantage of some other State with a high illegal alien population. And that is not all. To the extent population figures for other States are bloated by the addition of illegal aliens. the people of Missouri can expect to lose Federal funds. which are frequently distributed proportionately on the basis of population. The Census Bureau and the Carter administration maintain that the Constitution mandates that illegal aliens be counted for purposes of reapportionment because it directs that Representatives "shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers. countingthe whole number of persons in each State * * *." Thus. they argue. the census count must include everyone residing in the United States. Indeed. they have gone so far as to advertise extensively on radio and television to encourage illegal aliens to return their census forms. promising healthy Federal grants for their cities and neighborhoods. This argument strikes me as hogwash. At the time the Constitution was written. the concept of an "illegal alien" did not exist. Not until 1875 did the United States pass a statute prohibiting certain persons from immigrating to the United States. Notwithstanding the arguments advanced by the Carter administration. I simply do not believe that the Constitution mandates the representation in Congress of persons who reside in this country in violation of the laws of the United States. It is also worth noting that the administration is somewhat inconsistent in its policy. Despite its claims that the Constitution mandates a count of illegal aliens. simply because they reside in this country. it has nonetheless perpetuated the longstanding practice of not counting foreign diplomatic personnel. foreign tourists and foreign students. It is also worth noting. in a reversal of past policy and with the full support of the administration. that the Census Bureau is excluding from its tabulationsfor purposes of reapportionment and only for purposes of reapportionmentAmerican military and diplomatic personnel temporarily residing in foreign countries. The ironic result of this policy is that the 50 American hostages in Iran will not be counted among the people of the United States for purposes of representation in Congress. but Iranians in this country illegally will be counted.