WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today joined The Evening Edit on Fox Business to discuss Democrats blocking his amendment barring illegal immigrants from being counted in the census and influencing the allocation of congressional seats and electoral votes.
Partial Transcript
Hagerty on his amendment to ensure that only legal citizens are factored into the count for congressional districts: “The Senate Democrats, led by [Senator] Chuck Schumer, hated this vote, and it got down to the 11th hour on Friday night, just before the government shut down. Finally, they conceded to allow us to vote on this, and what we found was something that I think we all know is true. The Democrats are pursuing this illegal migration process for sheer power. The endgame for them is just what you described, Liz. If you can get these illegal migrants into the country, if you can get them to blue states, then you’re disproportionately affecting the voting power of those blue states because illegal migrants are counted for the purposes of allocating congressional seats and for allocating electoral votes. My legislation would’ve stopped that and said you can only count citizens for the purposes of allocating congressional power and presidential power when you get to electoral votes. Certainly, the Constitution is clear when it says only citizens may vote, the Democrats push back and say oh, these illegal people coming here can’t vote. That may be true right now, but they certainly are accounted for the purposes of allocating congressional districts and electoral votes, and they proved on Friday night that that is the motive behind the crime at our border.”
Hagerty on every Senate Democrat voting to include illegal immigrants in allocation of congressional seats: “We went all the way to the wire, and I said, look, we’ll see what happens here, but it will be up on you, and it’ll be on you if you shut it down at the end. He [Chuck Schumer] decided to allow us to vote; I’m glad that he did because it proved to the American public one thing: we see these people fleeing blue states like New York, like Illinois, like California. We know where the sanctuary cities have been erected: New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, these sanctuary cities act as magnets, and they’re being used to attract these illegal migrants. Think about this, Liz, 10 million illegal migrants since [President] Joe Biden has taken office. That’s 13 congressional seats right there, and 13 additional electoral votes. This is something that has been obvious to me for some time. The Democrats proved it on Friday night when every one of them voted against limiting the number of congressional seats and electoral votes to only being represented by those who are allowed to vote; that is U.S. citizens. Instead of allowing just U.S. citizens to be counted; they want to allow illegal migrants to be counted, to allocate this congressional power and electoral power […] It’s tragic that it’s happening. It’s diluting votes in states like mine in Tennessee where we don’t have that many illegal migrants. What it’s doing is it’s diluting us in favor of California, Illinois, and New York. That’s inherently unfair; it’s un-American. It should be not allowed, yet every Democrat voted for it to remain as the policy and to allow it.”
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