Washington, D.C. — Today, President Trump signed a memorandum stating his intention to exclude undocumented residents from the 2020 Census count when allocating Congressional seats to each state based on their population. This unconstitutional move is an affront to this country’s promise of equal representation. In response, Kelly Burton, President of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, released the following statement:

“Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional memo is a direct attack on the American democratic process and a pathetic attempt to cling to power as his floundering political efforts stumble toward November,” said Kelly Burton. “The National Democratic Redistricting Committee will use every single available tool at our disposal to fight back against this desperate effort to undermine our representative democracy. Every community in America is entitled to participate in a fair and accurate census process. And every community has a Constitutional right to be equally represented through the apportionment and redistricting processes that follow. We will fight tooth and nail to ensure the Trump administration’s latest assault on the Constitution does not deny people all over the country their right to fair and equal representation.”

Under the Fourteenth Amendment, representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives “shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state.” Despite the President’s claim that this provision is up for debate, the Supreme Court has already explained the obvious in interpreting this language: all persons are to be counted for the purpose of reapportionment, because all persons will be represented.

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