document: Lawmakers clashed Thursday over the question of counting illegal aliens in the 1990 Census , debating whether following the letter of the Constitution results in a system that is unfair to citizens . The forum was a Census subcommittee hearing on bills which would require the Census Bureau to figure out whether people are in the country legally and , if not , to delete them from the counts used in reapportioning seats in the House of Representatives . `` This is a fairness issue , '' said Rep. Thomas J. Ridge , R-Pa. , who contended that states with large numbers of illegal aliens benefit unfairly when their large population totals give then extra seats in the House . Because there is a 435-seat limit , when one state gains a House member another must lose one . Ridge cited the 1980 census , which estimated the number of illegal aliens at 2 million . The result , he said , was that Georgia and Indiana lost House seats to New York and California . Subcommittee Chairman Mervyn M. Dymally , D-Calif. , however , said he is unsure whether the bills backed by Ridge and others are constitutional . The U.S. Constitution requires the Census Bureau to cound all the `` persons '' in the country every 10 years for purposes of reapportionment . It does n't specify citizens . `` I am disturbed by the implication that undocumented residents of the United States are not ` persons , '' ' Dymally said . Noting that at times in the past blacks and Indians have been excluded from participation in government , he commented : `` I do not want to return to a time when some human beings are considered less than equal in the eyes of the law . '' `` Every census since the Constitution was adopted has counted all residents of the states , including both legal and illegal aliens , '' added Rep. Don Edwards , D-Calif . `` It was never the intent of the framers to include only citizens for apportionment purposes . '' And Rep. Albert G. Bustamente , D-Texas , termed the worry over counting aliens `` hysterical , '' pointing out that the movement of Americans into western and southern states has had a much larger effect on representation than the presence of aliens . The Census Bureau also opposes the bills , contending that the effort to determine who is an illegal alien could delay and complicate the count and that people would be unlikely to tell the truth anyway . But Reps. Tom Petri , R-Wis . and William F. Goodling , R-Pa. , asserted that counting illegal aliens violates citizens ' basic right to equal representation by giving greater voice in Congress to states where the aliens live . And Rep. Tim Valentine , D-N.C . , contended that counting aliens `` in effect , is granting representation in Congress to individuals who have entered this country by breaking the laws of the United States . ''
extractive_keyphrases: illegal aliens lawmakers census bureau house seats representatives
abstractive_keyphrases: u.s. constitution