The Politics Of Illegal Immigration

The problem of illegal immigration exists today inan early projection on how the nation's growing
large measure because the last two Presidentialpopulation of illegal immigrants would amplify the
administrations have not enforced the Immigrationmovement of Congressional seats to the South
Reform and Control Act of 1986, which providedand West when seats in the House of
for penalties against companies that hireRepresentatives are next divided up in 2010. The
undocumented workers. In 1999, under the ClintonConnecticut report predicts that "Arizona, Texas
Administration, the U.S. government collected aand Florida will all hold additional seats in Congress
meager $3.69 million from 890 companies in fines.after the next census, in part because of their
In 2004, under George Bush, the amountillegal immigrant populations. California and New
collected in fines from companies hiringJersey would keep their current amount of seats
undocumented workers was zero.in the House under the current system. Illinois,
It is estimated that, in 2004, three million illegalMichigan, Missouri, Montana and Ohio will each have
immigrants entered the United States. In addition,one fewer seat than they would otherwise have
the border with Mexico has never been properlybecause they have relatively few undocumented
secured, with only 9500 border agents trying toimmigrants. New York, which would lose two
police an eight thousand mile border until 2005.seats under the current system, would lose only
These factors have lead to an illegal immigrantone if illegal immigrants were excluded." Two of
population that has grown by at least 37% sinceCalifornia's projected fifty three House seats
the last United States census in the year 2000.would be the result of its undocumented
This increase in illegal immigration will provide apopulation.
political firestorm in Washington D.C. in the nextThe report makes this conclusion, "Illegal
few years since illegal immigrants are still includedimmigration is concentrating the power of voters
in the congressional apportionment calculation forin states such as California, Texas and Arizona,
2010.which have more seats in Congress per legal
Congressional apportionment is the distribution ofresident than many states where the number of
the 435 seats in the United States House Ofillegal immigrants is much smaller". Orlando
Representatives among the 50 states. TheRodriguez, the demographer of the report adds:
calculation is done every decade and is based on"If you look at it, if the undocumented population
the census of a state's total population. Theis included, then you get a real shift in seats from
calculation includes citizens and non citizensthe Northeast to the South and the Southwest,
including illegal aliens. The last calculation was doneand it's a disproportionate shift because the
by Congress in the year 2000 and the nextpeople who are included in the count, not all of
calculation of apportionment will be done in 2010.them vote".
In addition this once in a decade population tally isFuture Presidential elections will also be impacted
used as the basis to distribute more than $200by the 2010 Congressional apportionment. Illegal
billion in federal aid to the states each year.immigration will not only redistribute seats in the
When examining the last congressionalHouse of Representatives, but will impact the
apportionment in the year 2000, severalElectoral College as well because it is based on the
interesting things become apparent. Seven millionsize of congressional delegations. This influence
illegal aliens were counted in the 2000 Unitedcomes from a population of people who are not
States census. In total the census counted 18.5citizens and who are by law not allowed to vote.
million non-citizens. These illegal aliens andThese people are residing in this country illegally.
non-citizens tend to live in several states in aHowever, they live here illegally because they are
concentrated fashion. Since apportionmentallowed to by local, state and federal
considers non-citizens and illegal aliens in itsgovernments. They are used in census figures by
formula, the result in 2000 was a redistribution oftheir state of residence which receive monetary
nine congressional seats. The result was that lowbenefits and more congressional power. They are
immigration states that seem unaffected byexploited by the politician pandering for the
immigration experienced a loss of their politicalHispanic vote. They are exploited by their
influence. This loss of political influence occurredemployers who pay them in many cases a low
through the loss of congressional seats in thewage with poor working conditions. They are here
House of Representatives. The presence of nonbecause existing immigration laws were not
citizens in the census and apportionmentenforced by the two previous administrations and
calculations had some dramatic politicalby many state and local governments. They are
consequences. Due to the fact that non-citizenshere because the country has not secured its
were factored into the 2000 calculation, Indiana,border in an age of terrorism.
Michigan, Mississippi lost one seat each. The statesNon-citizens and illegal aliens will be counted in the
of Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,April 2010 United States census which will be the
Kentucky, and Utah each failed to gain a seatbasis for congressional apportionment. The
they should have had. The states with a highresulting movement of congressional seats will in
number of illegal aliens and non citizens gained theeffect dilute the principle that every citizen voter
seats. California gained six seats and Florida, Newhas an equal voice in this nation's political life. The
York, and Texas gained one seat each.result of the 2010 congressional apportionment will
Now consider the recent report by the Universitybe yet another unfortunate example of the
of Connecticut State Data Center . The report ispolitics of illegal immigration.