Talk about making a major move against illegal migrants’ potential election influence.
Indeed, while several Democrat lawmakers fled the state of Texas to prevent quorum – which would prevent a vote on redistricting – President Donald Trump has already envisioned otherwise to undermine ill-advised attempts to influence elections.
According to a report from The Hill, Trump would like to commence a new census … one that will not be impacted by the presence of unlawfully present individuals.
“I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024. People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump boomed on Truth Social.
Interestingly, The Hill quotes Republican strategist Ford O’Connell at length, and it is rather clear that O’Connell is all in favor of Trump’s strategy.
“From a messaging standpoint, it is ingenious to push the envelope on this front,” O’Connell proclaimed before launching into a flurry of favorable remarks on Trump’s sudden push for a new census.
According to Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment, the “whole number” is used to compute state populations, regardless of whether or nor all individuals in the state population are lawfully present.
“Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed,” the amendment details.
Ironic, really. The Constitution mentions “excluding Indians not taxed,” though it does not reference other groups.
It would appear that the earlier founders of the country did not envision future leaders turning the southern border into a de facto free for all.
Back in 2020, the first Trump administration issued a memorandum in which the importance of the census for political representation was made clear.
“For the purpose of the reapportionment of Representatives following the 2020 census, it is the policy of the United States to exclude from the apportionment base aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status under the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended,” the memo detailed.
However, that process was not implemented due to the impacts of the COVID pandemic.
Now, however, it is easier for the process to move forward. And apparently wow people by doing so.
“On that front, that will be mind-blowing to a lot of American people, and Trump, by doing this, is able to drive that home by getting around the minutia of what is redistricting, what is gerrymandering,” O’Connell mused.
O’Connell is also amused by the fact that various Democrats who are enraged over gerrymandering now were rather quiet when their own party was benefitting substantially from similar practices.
In other words, the Democrats consider gerrymandering just fine when it is to their benefit, but the same practice will justify their dodging the state entirely when Republicans undertake similar initiatives.
“What I think the Democrats, or their theatrics, are so hysterical about is the fact that they pretty much squeezed all the juice out of the lemon on this front and they just did it behind closed doors, so no one actually ever talked that way,” O’Connell chortled.
Seriously!
And with the new census (likely) on the way, the White House will achieve what it is angling for via redistricting anyway.
Author: Jane Jones
