Author: Kira Olsen-Medina

Kira Olsen-Medina is a research intern at Migration Policy Institute and is studying for a master of arts in American studies at Arizona State University.
Dangerous Pattern: How Immigrants Became Central to the Battle Over Congressional Reapportion

A Dangerous Pattern: How Immigrants Became Central to the Battle Over Congressional Reapportionment

In the administration’s latest attempt to influence the 2020 census and redefine who gets counted, a presidential memo signed on July 21, acts to selectively exclude unauthorized immigrants from being counted in congressional reapportion—weaponizing the census in a way that would only impact the allocation of congressional seats but maintain distribution of federal funding.
This would be the first time since 1790, when the U.S. census began, that non-citizens are excluded from official population counts used to apportion House seats.