I do wish to offer my comments on Senator SHELBYS amendment to the Commerce. Justice. State appropriations bill which would bar the Census Bureau from counting illegal aliens when apportioning seats in the House of Representatives. This amendment was accepted on the legal immigration bill earlier this summer. S. 358. after it survived a tabling motion and a constitutional point of order. I did also support the amendment at that time. The Constitution does say that we should count "persons." not just citizens or legal residents when conducting the census. However. I do not believe that the framers of the Constitution ever conceived of illegal immigration in 1789. nor were the framers of the 14th amendment familiar with such a phenomenomwe Just did not have illegal immigration in those days. except of course. in the wretched case of slavery itself. Should we be counting people whom we do not want to enter? These people cannot vote. yet should we then include them when we apportion seats in the House?
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immigration illegal immigration illegal aliens