CHICAGO, IL. – A Latino civil rights organization filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit seeking to exclude undocumented immigrants and certain other non-citizens from the 2030 Census count used to allocate congressional seats and Electoral College votes, according to papers filed in federal court on Wednesday.
MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) filed the request on behalf of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) and individual voters from California, Illinois, and Texas. They seek to defend the longstanding Census practice of counting all residents of a state, regardless of immigration status, for purposes of congressional apportionment, as required by the U.S. Constitution. Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution requires that representatives be apportioned among the states based on the “whole number of persons” living in each state. Attorneys argue that the interveners must step in to defend a full Census count because the current administration cannot be trusted to defend their interests.
“The Census is the foundation to so much of our nation’s governance,” said Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. “The changes sought by Missouri and supported by the Trump administration would fundamentally alter and pervert our democracy.”
At issue is a lawsuit filed on January 30, by the State of Missouri and several individual plaintiffs challenging the Census Bureau’s 2020 Census Residence Criteria, which directs the Bureau to count foreign citizens living in the United States at the place where they live and sleep most of the time. The plaintiffs seek a court order requiring the federal government to exclude undocumented immigrants and certain temporary visa holders from the population totals used to determine representation in Congress and the Electoral College. In addition, the lawsuit is asking for a recount of the 2020 Census and 2021 apportionment to exclude undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders in order to recalculate how many Congressional seats each state should be given.
“Missouri’s attempt to strip representation from millions of residents is a direct assault on a growing Latino electorate and will not go unchallenged,” said MALDEF attorney Javier Silva. “The law is clear: The Census counts every person, not just those with a specific legal status. MALDEF is prepared to ensure that the bedrock principle of ‘everyone counts’ is upheld, even as Missouri and the Trump Administration seek to undermine it.”
Attorneys argue that excluding undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders from the population count would reduce congressional representation for states with large immigrant populations and dilute the voting strength of Latino communities. They also note that the Census Bureau has long counted all residents regardless of immigration status, consistent with constitutional requirements and decades of census practice.
“We are living through a watershed moment in our nation’s history where we are once again questioning who counts as a person. To be clear, this is about more than erasing immigrants and immigrant families from the census – it is an attempt to strip political representation and critical federal resources away from communities of color,” said Evelyn De Jesus, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) National President. “As the leading voice for Latino workers and Latino working families, LCLAA refuses to stand idle in the face of disenfranchisement campaigns for political gain. That is why we are proud to work alongside MALDEF in this fight and say, ‘presente!’ ”
MALDEF previously intervened in a 2018 challenge, Alabama v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, that also sought to exclude certain immigrant populations from the apportionment count. MALDEF also challenged the effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census in La Unión del Pueblo Entero v. Ross, and the subsequent effort to use administrative data to exclude some immigrant populations in La Unión del Pueblo Entero v. Trump.
The motion to intervene in State of Missouri et al v. United States Department of Commerce et al was filed in the U.S. District Court of Eastern District of Missouri. Read it HERE.