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The redistricting battle across the country is bringing renewed attention to how the census counts people who are non-citizens, and if people here illegally are inflating the statistics that ultimately decide congressional seats and the Electoral College.
Texas is looking at redistricting, as blue states like California are eyeing the possibility of also redistricting to counter any potential Republican seat additions.
Still, there’s been a debate about whether to include a question asking to verify somebody’s citizenship on the census, and only use the citizen figures to determine congressional district and Electoral College numbers.
An envelope containing a 2020 census letter mailed to a U.S. resident in Detroit. A federal judge on Thursday, May 21, 2020, agreed to impose financial sanctions against the Trump administration for failing to produce hundreds of documents during litigation over whether a citizenship question could be added to the 2020 census. (Paul Sancya/AP Photo)
Meanwhile, blue states and cities, particularly sanctuary jurisdictions, have faced major sweeps from federal immigration authorities, leading to questions about the number of illegal immigrants that could have been counted in the 2020 census, even though it was before the Biden-era border crisis.
The Office of Homeland Security Statistics reported in 2024 that there were roughly 2.6 million “unauthorized immigrants” living in California, and just over 2 million living in Texas as of 2022.
Many other states, like Florida, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Arizona, also had numbers in the hundreds of thousands, according to the office’s estimates at the time.
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Immigrants wait to be processed at a U.S. Border Patrol transit center after they crossed the border from Mexico on December 20, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. A late-year surge of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border has overwhelmed U.S. immigration officials. (John Moore/Getty Images)
The “Equal Representation Act” was re-introduced in the Senate in June with heavy Republican support, which would add the question and leave out non-citizens from being counted in the apportionments, as they have a major political impact.
“It is unconscionable that illegal immigrants and non-citizens are counted toward congressional district apportionment and our electoral map for the presidency, which also heavily skews the seat count in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said in a statement in June on the legislation.
“While people continue to flee Democrat-run cities, desperate Democrats have back-filled the mass exodus with illegal immigrants so that they do not lose their seats in Congress or their electoral votes, hence artificially boosting their political power and in turn diluting the power of other Americans’ votes. I’m pleased to lead my colleagues in reintroducing this legislation that would require a citizenship question on the census and will ensure that only citizens are counted in congressional redistricting,” he added.
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“Most Americans would be surprised to learn that states with more illegal immigrants are awarded greater representation in Congress as a result. Addressing this perverse feature of reapportionment needs to be part of any discussion about redistricting reform going forward,” Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital in a statement.
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Texas Democrats stood next to Illinois lawmakers on Aug. 4, 2025, to oppose redistricting measures proposed by Texas Republicans. (Fox News)
The argument from Republicans is that if people who are non-citizens and in the country illegally are being counted, it creates an artificially high number for representation. While there’s been discussion in the past, the millions of illegal immigrants that arrived in the country during the Biden administration brought the concern back.
A proposal from Rep. Chuck Edwards passed the House last year during the Biden administration, but it never became law and was brought back by the Republican this session.
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“But even if not a single illegal alien casts a vote, the mere presence of illegal immigrants in the U.S. is having a profound impact on the outcome of elections, skewing the representation of Americans,” Edwards said at the time.
“Mr. Biggs points out that the U.S. Constitution mandates that a census be carried out every ten years, where everyone who is present in the United States, regardless of their citizenship and immigration status, is counted. But the Constitution does not specify whether non-citizens or illegal aliens must be counted for the purpose of apportioning House seats,” he added.
