Speech #960293007

They threaten to erase from this Chamber the immortal words of Alexander Hamilton. who said. "Here. sir. the people rule." And unless we stand up and be counted. representative government. in this country. will be threatened as well. Let us examine the problem and try to get a focus on just exactly how deep it is. We know for a fact. because of immigration requirements. that there are 5 million registered aliens in this Nation. That is 5 million. That represents a population larger than 36 States of this Union. These 5 million aliens are being counted for purposes of congressional reapportionment even though they have not sworn any kind of allegiance to this Nation. Now. that is just the top of the pyramid. Add to this total perhaps as many as 15 millionthat is the high figureadditional aliens euphemistically called "undocumented aliens." What we really mean by that is they are here contrary to law and without any sanction whatsoever. They have not forsworn their allegiance to any foreign soverignty or potentate. This is a larger population group in this country than 49 of the 50 States. Let me tell the Members something else that I am sure they probably know. These people do not pay any taxes. Obviously. for them to file a declaration of tax returns would be an open invitation to deportationsomething which they fervently hope would not occur to them. But the Census Bureau proposes to count both groups. despite the fact. as I have said. that they have not forsworn allegiance to foreign governments. foreign princes. or foreign potentates. The Census Bureau proposes to give them full parity with citizens of this country. I ask my colleagues. by what kind of tortured logic do we delegate such awesome power to the Census Bureau? This Is an incredible powerthink of itto count as fullfledged citizens of this country 20 million aliens. perhaps all of the 20 million illegal aliens who are currently In this Nation. We all know that the 14th amendment to the Constitution provides that Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States. Title 13 of the United States Code states that the Secretary of Commerce shall take a census every 10 years. and that same statute requires the tabulation of the census and then a report to the President of the United States by the Secretary of Commerce.