Speech #1010044079

The issue could not be clearer. The framers intentions are also clear from the consistent practice of the Census Bureau for 190 yearssince the ratification of the Constitution. To quote the Congressional Research Service. "the fact that every census since 1790 has included legal as well as illegal aliens in its count would seem to be indicative of the fact that the original intent of the framers was to include such aliens. Lp. 121. Courts may have dismissed cases in 1980 and 1988 for lack of standing. The same conclusion has been reached by the Federal courts. In 1980. in Fair versus Klutznick. a threejudge Federal court statedand I quotethat: [The Constitution] requires the counting of the "whole number of persons" for apportionment purposes. and while illegal aliens were not a component of the population at the time the Constitution was adopted. they are clearly "persons." (486 F. Supp. 564. 576 (D.D.C. 1980). In other contexts. the Supreme Court has consistently held that the word "persons" in the 14th amendment includes illegal aliens. For example. in 1982 In Plyler versus Doe. the Court ruled that the equal protection clause bars States from completely excluding illegal aliens from its schools. The CRS study concluded thatand I quote: A statutory exclusion of aliens from [the apportionment] base would seem to violate the "whole number of persons" requirement and thus be unconstitutional. The Justice Department. under both Presidents Carter and Reagan. also recognized that the Constitution bars excluding illegal aliens from the census. And in the past. the Justice Department has opposed legislative proposals to exclude illegal aliens from the apportionment base on constitutional grounds. As a practical matter. the Shelby amendment is unworkable. because it would require the Census Bureau to exclude illegal aliens from the apportionment counts. In 1988. the Director of the Census Bureau testified before a House subcommittee thatand I quote: [The Census Bureau] has not found an acceptable method to exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment counts. [p. 5) The reason is obvious. If census takers are required to ask people whether they are illegal aliens. the question will provoke widespread fear and suspicion and noncooperation with the census. The Census Bureau found thatand I quote: A census of only legal residents cannot be done as accurately as a census of all residents. People who are undocumented immigrants may either avoid the census altogether or deliberately misreport themselves as legal residents in the census. * * Legal residents may be confused about why the Government is asking whether a person is here illegally. Legal residents. therefore. may misunderstand or mistrust the census and fail or refuse to respond. The Census Bureau is clearly not the proper agency to decide who is: In the United States in violation of the immigration laws. Census takers are not experts on our immigration laws. Do we want parttime or onetime Government employees to be deciding immigration status? Thats what the Shelby amendment would require. Finally. the Shelby amendment is inappropriate to add to this important legislation.