Missouri attorney general sues Census Bureau over undocumented immigrant count

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri attorney general on Friday sued the U.S. Census Bureau over its counting of undocumented immigrant populations for the purpose of drawing U.S. House districts.

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed the lawsuit Friday in federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Missouri is asking for an injunction to stop factoring in undocumented immigrant populations into congressional district counts.

"This case concerns whether the People still retain the right of self-government -- or whether aliens who trespass into the United States can hijack control of our Republic's system of representation," Hanaway wrote in the legal filing.

Hanaway argues that the policy violates both the Constitution and principles of representative government. Undocumented immigrants should be treated like foreigners who are visiting the United States for the census -- they are not counted.

The same applies to temporary visa holders, she writes.

The lawsuit claims that counting undocumented immigrants in the census has distorted representative apportionment, providing more political power to areas with larger undocumented populations.

"Including illegal aliens in the decennial Census and apportionment has unlawfully inflated the representation of States like California and New York," Hanaway wrote. She claims undocumented immigrants make up about 10% of the population of Los Angeles.

Hanaway is also asking the court for a judgment that undocumented immigrant populations be stripped from the 2020 census count.