How Non-Citizens Impact Political Representation and the Partisan Makeup of the U.S. House of Representatives
By Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler on October 31, 2024
At present, the apportionment of U.S. House seats among the states, as well as the drawing of congressional district lines within states, are based on total population — not citizenship.1 At the time of the last congressional election in 2022, Census Bureau data captured 21.6 million non-citizens, roughly half of whom are here illegally.2
Because these non-citizens are not evenly distributed across the country, they make up a large share of the population of many congressional districts. It typically requires many fewer votes to win in such districts compared to districts comprised largely of citizens. This raises important questions about the principle of “one person, one vote.” The presence of non-citizens also strongly correlates with support for Democratic candidates.
Our findings are not due to non-citizens voting illegally. Rather it is a consequence of the enormous size of the non-citizen population due to high levels of legal immigration and the failure to stem illegal immigration. This report is a companion to another CIS report looking at immigration and apportionment.
Excel Spreadsheet with Non-Citizen Population by U.S. House District
https://cis.org/Camarota/How-NonCitizens-Impact-Political-Representation-and-Partisan-Makeup-US-House
