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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

Could excluding non-citizens from census results change the number of House members apportioned to some states?

By Christopher Hutton
YES

Excluding non-citizen residents from the usual basis for allocating Congressional seats could change the size of some state delegations. A recent Presidential statement calls for excluding undocumented residents "to the maximum extent feasible." They have previously been included for both apportionment and certain funding formulas. The decennial census, still underway, counts all U.S. inhabitants, plus federal employees overseas.

Each state gets one seat in the House of Representatives, with the remainder allocated by population. The Center for Immigration Studies, which favors less immigration, says California, Florida and Texas could each lose a seat under such a change, with Alabama, Minnesota and Ohio picking up one. The exact result would depend on the method for adjusting census estimates, assuming Trump is re-elected and courts permit the change.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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