WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a challenge to President Trump’s bid to exclude millions of undocumented immigrants from the 2020 census, bringing the government a victory.
In a 6-3 ruling, the bank called the challenge led by New York and immigrant rights groups ‘premature’ because the consequences and exact goals of the president’s actions were still ‘suspected’.
“Currently, this case is riddled with contingencies and speculation hampering judicial review,” the Supreme Court said.
“The president has of course made it clear that he wants to exclude undocumented migrants from the distribution key.”
“But the president reinforced his guideline by stipulating that the secretary should collect information ‘as far as practicable’ and that aliens should be excluded ‘as far as possible,” she added.
The Trump administration wants to exclude non-citizens from the count, which could drastically change the representation some states receive in the House of Representatives, which is population-based.
If Trump were to succeed, large Democratic states like California and New York, which are home to large immigrant populations – and whose “ sanctuary cities ” like the Big Apple work to protect illegal aliens from federal law enforcement, would likely be disproportionately affected.
Only California could potentially lose two or three seats if illegal immigrants are not included in the 2020 census.
The census has already been conducted, but analysts from the Department of Commerce, which oversees the US Census Bureau, are still trying to determine the number of undocumented immigrants in the country.
Trump and his legal team have argued that the plan is both constitutional and within his legal powers as president.