Anti-Deportation Network Mobilizes Against Census Rule Excluding Illegal Aliens
3rd October 2026
The same left-wing activist groups that oppose President Donald Trump’s enforcement of immigration law also appear to be mobilizing against the Census Bureau’s proposed rule to exclude illegal aliens from the 2030 census for purposes of determining seats in the House of Representatives and votes in the Electoral College.
Critics see this mobilization as evidence of maneuvering for political advantage.
“The Left opposes deportations and supports counting illegal aliens for congressional apportionment for the same reason—to maintain their own political power,” Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told the Daily Signal in a statement Thursday.
The Census Bureau argues that apportionment should be based on a person’s “usual residence,” as the census traditionally includes members of the military stationed overseas and excludes tourists.
Under the proposed rule, the Census Bureau would exclude illegal aliens and other non-permanent residents from the apportionment count.
Adriel I. Cepeda Drieux, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project, told NPR her group is considering litigation, saying the rule would “fly against centuries of constitutional tradition in the United States.”
Customary practice doesn’t trump the Constitution … or the law. We haven’t before had organized groups of people attempting to allow millions of illegal immigrants swamp our territory, and changing facts on the ground ought to lead to changing practices.