Trump would suspend these visas due to the pandemic 2:45
(CNN) –– United States President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Tuesday that would exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted in congressional districts when the district lines are redrawn next year.
The memorandum represents the latest effort by the Trump administration to change the way American populations are accounted for, and advance the president's immigration agenda. Like other previous measures of this type, it will surely be brought to court.
- READ: Trump is blocking most legal avenues to immigrate to the United States
"Therefore, I have determined that respect for the law and protection of the integrity of the democratic process justify the exclusion of illegal aliens from the distribution base, as far as possible and to the maximum extent of the President's discretion. under the law, ”said the document.
Trump has long tried to use the U.S. census as a way to advance his immigration priorities, but the Supreme Court in 2019 rejected the attempt to ask residents if they are U.S. citizens. Still, the administration can collect citizenship status information through other means.
And like the effort to include the citizenship question in the census, the memo marks another measure that would likely impact the balance of power in the states and the House of Representatives, which are based on the total population.
Trump blocks legal options to emigrate to the US 1:12The courts will probably have the last word. The Constitution indicates that representation in Congress is distributed based on the "total number of free people," not just US citizens.
"The legal problem is that Amendment 14 says that representatives will be distributed among the various states according to their respective numbers, counting the total number of people," said Joshua Geltzer of the Georgetown University Law Center.
"That means that the seats in the House of Representatives are divided based on everyone present in all 50 states, not just those who are legally present," he added.
- READ: The Trump administration measures to limit immigration to the US
Also, Geltzer said, the census does not currently ask whether anyone is illegally in the country. "Presumably, the Trump administration will have to rely on a hodgepodge from other records to guess the population they intend to use for the cast," he added.
Michael Li, who serves as senior advisor to the Brennan Center Democracy Program, questioned how the federal government would make the determination on whether someone has an irregular status.
"The Constitution requires counting everyone - children, immigrants, everyone - it does not have exclusions based on legal status," Li added.
CNN's Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
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