U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is urging his colleagues to require the U.S. Census Bureau to include a question about U.S. citizenship in counting the nation鈥檚 population.
The Florida Republican senator and Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tennessee, on Monday introduced the to exclude non-U.S. citizens from the decennial count. Several other senators are co-sponsoring the legislation.
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鈥淚llegal aliens shouldn鈥檛 be allowed to break the law and be rewarded with taxpayer-funded benefits, and states that shelter them shouldn鈥檛 gain increased influence in Washington as a result,鈥� said Scott . 鈥淪ince illegal aliens are currently counted in the census, states like California receive disproportionate representation in the Electoral College and the House of Representatives.鈥�
鈥淏y restoring the census to its pre-2000 standard and including a citizenship question, this bill ensures that states like California don鈥檛 gain an unfair advantage over states like Florida, and that every citizen鈥檚 vote carries equal weight,鈥� Scott said.
California has an estimated 1.8 million undocumented immigrants, but Florida runs third behind Texas, with 1.2 million, .
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, is crafting a similar bill in the House. Her legislation would immediately demand the Census Bureau conduct a new census. She last week that she spoke to President Trump about the bill and that he expressed his support.
