Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach wants to stop counting noncitizens in the U.S. census.
Counting unauthorized immigrants hurts states like Kansas, argues a lawsuit that Kobach joined. States like Texas and California have larger noncitizen populations. When counted, that means Texas and California get more Electoral College votes, more representation in Congress and a larger slice of federal programs.
Counting unauthorized immigrants rips resources and federal representation away from states with a smaller immigrant population, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in conjunction with Louisiana, Ohio and West Virginia.
“It is a national embarrassment that the most powerful country in the world does not know how many citizens it has and has not known for decades,” Kobach said in a press release.
Opponents counter that dividing up resources without considering noncitizens is dangerous.
Pew Research estimates there were about 11 million unauthorized immigrants in 2022. Even that number is likely an undercount because of the wave of immigration in 2022-2023. Though noncitizens don’t vote and aren’t eligible for federal social services programs, they still use resources in the community.
Aude Negrete, executive director for the Latino Community Network, said population estimates are used by developers to see where to build new homes. Cities use it to see if they have enough firefighters.
“You could potentially have less firefighters,” she said. “If a house burns, the neighbor’s house will burn too.”
Negrete, who served in the Complete Count Committee in Kansas, crisscrossed the state to spread awareness before the 2020 census. She said people don’t understand how much the census impacts their daily lives.
In Garden City, the 2010 and 2020 censuses were likely undercounts, said City Manager Matt Allen. Garden City sued in 2010 because the census missed large portions of the population. The city tried hard for a more accurate count in 2020, but Allen said he still thinks a few thousand people were missed.
“There’s a monetary loss,” he said.
Though no exact accounting of lost resources exists, there are pools of money that use census data. COVID-19 relief funds are handed out that way, and Garden City would have received more money if the population count was higher.
The lawsuit names the Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Commerce as defendants.
The lawsuit says Ohio and West Virginia have lost a congressional seat and an Electoral College vote. Kansas and Louisiana will lose one in 2030 if the current projections hold.
“After failing to secure the border, the federal government reallocated Ohioans’ democratic representation to sanctuary states like California with a larger illegal alien and nonimmigrant alien population.” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told the Ohio Capital Journal. “I am fighting for Ohioans’ voices and the rule of law.”
Noncitizens are counted in the U.S. census because the Constitution requires a count of everyone in each state. Someone’s residence is just the place they live and sleep most of the time. That’s how immigrants can cross the border and get counted.
Those immigrants aren’t eligible for federal programs like food stamps or Medicaid, yet 353 programs divvied up $2.8 trillion in 2021 based on census data.
The lawsuit said it isn’t fair that California and Texas got more federal money because of populations that can’t even use the programs. That’s one reason the lawsuit said it’s unconstitutional to use noncitizens to divide these social service programs.
“Federal funding for public benefits is not intended for statutorily ineligible aliens,” the lawsuit said.
Before the 2020 census, there were rumors that families in mixed households — those with citizen and noncitizen occupants — shouldn’t reply to the count because it could hurt them. Negrete worked hard to dispel those rumors to ensure the most accurate count possible.
Now, there’s legal action to undo all she did. She’s worried.
Before the 2020 census, it felt like everyone was on the same team, Negrete said. Everyone wanted an accurate count so every community got the resources it needed.
“Regardless of their political opinions,” she said, “it worries me that there might be an effort to make it a political issue.”