Mr. Speaker. recently I called to the attention of this body my concern about misinformation on the effects of counting undocumented aliens in the 1990 census. Since my first statement on this issue. it has come to my attention that the constitutional argument in favor of including all residents in the census counts may be stronger than I first imagined. The distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. Congressman DON EDwARDs of California. has pointed out that because the 14th amendment specifically refers to an enumeration of "persons." not "citizens." for purposes of reapportionment. then it may take a constitutional amendment to exclude noncitizens from the census counts. Because the decennial census and subsequent reapportionment of congressional seats is governed specifically by the Constitution. the Census Bureau cannot change administratively its policy of counting all persons residing in the United States. regardless of citizenship status. And Congress is not in a position to simply override the 14th amendment by legislating an exclusion of undocumented aliens from the enumeration. I hope my colleagues will consider this before cosponsoring any such legislation.
Keywords matched
undocumented noncitizens