Trump orders congressional districts to disallow 'illegal aliens' from voting

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a memorandum to disallow the votes of illegal migrants in the country from being counted at congressional voting districts after voting maps are redrawn this year.

This has received backlash from Democrats, who have threatened to take legal action. Democratic-led states like New York are already planning to respond legally. However, experts believe the memorandum is legally invalid, and may not even be practiced.

To benefit Republican Party?

If, somehow, this were allowed, the Republican Party would largely benefit from it. A majority of the non-white voting population would then not be allowed to vote. His voter base though, which comprises Caucasian Americans, will be able to vote nevertheless.

Many states in the US have a large immigrant population, including California and New York. If these were to be legally mandated, such states would lose seats in the US House of Representatives. California currently has 53 seats, while New York has 27.

The process of “apportionment” is set to begin in the US, which will carve out voting maps for federal congressional districts.

"Illegal aliens"

"Including these illegal aliens in the population of the state for the purpose of apportionment could result in the allocation of two or three more congressional seats than would otherwise be allocated," the memo said.

Redistricting is set to take place in 2021. This is undertaken to take into account changes in the population, and will be done after the 2020 US census.

Historically, the distribution of 435 seats has been done keeping in mind the total population, not considering the status of immigration. Trump’s new memorandum will attempt to exclude those who are in the US legally.

The US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a statement called the measure “unlawful”, and further said that it was "designed to again inject fear and distrust into vulnerable and traditionally undercounted communities, while sowing chaos with the Census."

The US constitution says that congressional districts should be based on “the whole number of persons” in every district.