ICYMI: Congresswoman Miller Fights Back Against Counting of Undocumented Immigrants in 2020 Census

WASHINGTON D.C. – Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) today spoke twice in the House Committee on Oversight and Reform about House Democrats' desire to include undocumented immigrants in the apportionment of Congressional districts as a result of the 2020 Census.

Congresswoman Miller's Remarks as Prepared:

On the Question of Apportionment:

As we will discuss further in the next panel with Director Dillingham, apportionment is a drastically different task than taking the Census. It is essential the Census count every person living in the United States, as this data is used to appropriate federal resources to the communities in need. Another use for this data, is to fulfill the constitutional duty of apportionment.

Apportionment is the essential process that Congress takes to make sure that the Members of the Congress are distributed fairly and proportionally across the United States. Allowing some states, with a high number of undocumented immigrants, to subvert the will of American citizens by denying other states their fair representation cannot be allowed.

While many across the aisle actively champion illegal immigration at worst, or deny the government's duty to protect our sovereign borders at best, to turn around and try to distort the President's actions to protect American Democracy into a constitutional crisis is an absolute farce and this hearing is just a continuation of the lack of leadership that America is so tired of seeing out of Washington.

I support President Trump's memorandum on apportionment and reiterate the importance of making sure American's voices are heard here in Congress and at the ballot box.

On How the 2020 Census is Counting Rural Communities:

I want to first thank you and your staff, Director Dillingham, for the herculean effort you have in front of you, to complete the Census this year in the midst of a pandemic. I wish you all the best of luck and Congress stands ready to do what it can to ensure this essential constitutional mandate is completed.

My district is a representation of how difficult the census can be to complete. Four of the eighteen counties in my district have one hundred percent of the population living in hard-to-count neighborhoods. I spent last year visiting each of these counties, and I can tell you from first-hand experience, how rural each community is. This has only been exacerbated by the Coronavirus pandemic.

It is critical that we count each of our constituents, and then once we have that count, that we are apportioning congressional seats to each of the States fairly. As an American citizen, the representation you have in the federal government should always be completely fair and accurate.

Counting people living in the United States illegally in apportionment is an attack on our democratic institutions and seeks to take away the voice of American citizens.

I strongly support President Trump's actions to protect the sanctity of our Constitutionally mandated apportionment process, and protecting the voice and representation of the American people in Congress.