Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the United States Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau alleging the departments’ counting of illegal immigrants and visa holders has compromised elections.
“United States citizens and lawful permanent residents have a right to representation, unlike illegal aliens and temporary visa holders,” Hanaway said in a news release. “In America, the People, the members of the social compact, are the only legitimate source of the government’s power. We are taking a stand against those who are cheating our system.”
In the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Hanaway argued that including illegal immigrants and temporary visa holders in census apportionment violates the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.
The suit seeks to bar the Bureau and the Commerce Department from continuing the practice for the 2030 Census and to require corrective action for the 2020 and 2021 apportionment counts.
Hanaway alleges that because of census procedure in the 2020 apportionment, Missouri was robbed of a congressional seat and electoral vote.
Hanaway also alleges that including illegal immigrants in the 2020 census unfairly shifted congressional seats, electoral votes, and federal funding.
She said federal representation is being stolen from states that uphold immigration laws and being handed to states with sanctuary cities, such as Illinois, New York, and California.
Hanaway is asking the court to declare that the inclusion of illegal immigrants in past and future census apportionments is unlawful, order a redo of the 2020 Census enumeration if necessary, and prohibit their inclusion in the 2030 Census tabulation.
The Census Bureau counts every person living in the U.S. for the purpose of apportioning seats in the House of Representatives, a practice rooted in long-standing census methodology and endorsed by courts.
At the end of his first term, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum that barred the Secretary of Commerce from including illegal immigrants in the decennial apportionment base, even though illegal immigrants were counted in the 2020 Census.
California and New York sued against Trump’s actions. The Supreme Court eventually cleared the way for the order to move forward, but the Biden administration stepped in and changed back the policy.
Hanaway has also defended Missouri’s voter ID laws, emphasizing that requiring government-issued photo identification is a critical safeguard for election integrity.
The lawsuit comes amid heightened national tensions over electoral integrity in the 2020 election.
The FBI recently executed a search warrant at the Fulton County election office in Union City, Georgia, seizing ballots, tabulator tapes, electronic ballot images, and voter rolls from the 2020 presidential election.
DOJ SAYS NO EPSTEIN FILES WERE REDACTED FOR NATIONAL SECURITY REASONS
Georgia has been at the center of claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent, particularly in Fulton County, where Trump narrowly lost to Joe Biden.
The Fulton County episode and Hanaway’s lawsuit underscore the broader national debate over how elections are conducted, counted, and challenged.