AG Steve Marshall testifies on Capitol Hill in support of Alabama census lawsuit

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Steve Marshall on Cap Hill
Marshall testifies before the committee.

Attorney General Steve Marshall testified before a U.S. Congressional Committee on Friday that the Census Bureaus “unlawful” decision to include illegal aliens in the 2020 Census will cause Alabama to lose a seat in the U.S. House of Representative as well as a vote in the Electoral College.

Marshall told the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice the decision “plainly undermines the rule of law.”

“Alabama is set to lose one of its seven congressional seats and one of its nine electoral votes – a seat and a vote it would not lose if illegal aliens were excluded from the apportionment base,” Marshall told the subcommittee. “Not only would this skewed result rob the State of Alabama and its legal residents of their rightful share of representation, but it plainly undermines the rule of law.  If an individual’s presence in our country is in violation of federal law, why should the states in which they reside benefit from their illegal status?”

Marshall further noted the Census has previously included illegal aliens and that the result has been an unlawful distribution of additional U.S. House seats and electoral college votes to states with higher numbers of illegal aliens.

“The irony, of course, is that illegal aliens cannot vote; therefore, they are not the ones who gain from being included in the apportionment base. In a state in which a large share of the population cannot vote, those who do vote count more than those who live in states where a larger share of population is made up of American citizens.”

Alabama is not alone in suffering a potential loss in federal representation if the 2020 Census count includes illegal aliens. Ohio is also predicted to lose a U.S. House seat while Montana would fail to gain a seat it would have otherwise acquired.

Attorney General Marshall and Alabama 5th District U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks filed a lawsuit last month challenging the U.S. Census Bureau’s counting of illegal aliens.

Watch Marshall’s testimony below: