June 15, 2005

"Under bill, illegals wouldn't count toward political clout"

The Detroit Free Press reports on U.S. Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI)'s attempts to prevent illegal aliens from counting towards representation in Congress. See "Should illegal aliens count towards Congressional representation?" for the previous report.

As I expected, illegal immigration supporters are starting their campaign:

U.S. Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas, [his immigration-related votes earn him an F-minus; perhaps he's worried about the effect this would have on his district or perhaps he's thinking about all those illegal aliens who are the same race as he is --LW] said Monday that stripping noncitizens from the census would penalize states with a large population. Each would receive less federal funding, but still have to support noncitizen populations.

"We should stay focused on what we attempt to accomplish when we conduct a census," said Gonzalez, chairman of the Hispanic Caucus' Civil Rights Task Force. "I think this only stokes the fires of any anti-immigrant feelings that occur."

But a spokesman for Miller says her legislation wouldn't necessarily change the distribution of federal money.

Marshall Fitz, associate director of the American Immigrant Lawyers Association in Washington D.C, [here's more on the AILA --LW] said of Miller's proposal: "To try to pretend they are not here really is a sad commentary on the way we want to treat people in this country."

Posted to Immigration2005b at June 15, 2005 04:23 PM

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