Utah gets census ally

WASHINGTON — Utah officials still mutter "what if" about the 2000 Census when the state missed out on a fourth congressional seat by a mere 857 people.

But Utah isn't the only state grumbling about the census, and now a Michigan congresswoman proposes a constitutional amendment that, if it had been in place in 2000, would have given Utah a fourth seat, while at the same time kept some states like Michigan from losing seats to California, Texas and Florida.

Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., believes that only legal citizens of the United States should be counted in the census, which provides the basis for how congressional districts are allotted to each state.

"I find it absolutely outrageous that people who are not in our country legally are having such a profound impact on our political system," Miller said. "If we continue to include illegal aliens in that count, we'll allow noncitizens to steal the congressional voice of Americans."

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that all "persons" of a state be included in the census. Miller's amendment would change that word to "citizens."

The impact on the balance of power in Congress would be profound. According to the Congressional Research Service, if only U.S. citizens were counted, California, with a population of 5.4 million illegal aliens, would lose six seats in the U.S. House.

New York, Florida and Texas would all lose one seat.

In addition to Utah, other states that would pick up one seat would be Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The research also found that 50 percent of noncitizens live in California, New York and Texas.

Jefferson D. Taylor, associate director of communications for the U.S. Census Bureau, said Miller's idea of counting only citizens is brand new for the agency, which acts as the government's "statistical subcontractor."

"I think it would be an incredible challenge," Taylor said. "Right now we do not verify anybody's information. We really do go on trust. . . . We hold all that individual information private."

The census short form is used for apportionment. Since 1940, the census has also used long form survey, which is tied to more than $200 billion in federal funding, Taylor said.

The long form, which has been replaced by the American Community Survey, asks whether a person is a citizen. Also tied to federal programs are more than 120 annual census surveys, Taylor said.

Taylor said he couldn't speculate on whether noncitizens would also be excluded from those surveys.