Mr. President. over the last few months. we have discussed at length the problem of illegal immigration. What many may not realize is that illegal immigration affects our system of representation as well. After the 1990 Census. my State of Montana lost one of its two seats in the House of Representatives. Ten years later. our great State had grown to more than 900.000 residents. but still did not gain a seat. Meanwhile. we have an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in this country today. and all of them will be a factor to determine which States gain or lose a seat in the House of Representatives after the Census in 2010. This is because current policy tells us to count everyone in this country. illegal or not. when determining Congressional apportionment. If these trends continue. we will have millions more illegal aliens counted in the 2010 Census. The result will be more seats lost in States that have actually increased in population of lawabiding U.S. residents. Thankfully. my State of Montana cannot lose any more seats in the House of Representatives. We are down to our last one. Other States. however. will not be so fortunate. Lawabiding citizens should not have to lose representation because millions of illegal immigrants ignore our laws. That is why today. I am introducing the Fair and Accurate Representation Act. This bill will exclude the masses of illegal aliens in this country from being part of the Congressional apportionment process. If we act now. we can get started on reforming this process in time for the 2010 Census. The voting rights of lawabiding citizens should not be diluted by those who choose to enter this country illegally.
Keywords matched
illegal aliens illegal immigrants illegal immigration