document: Though the forms for the 1990 census are already at the printers , Congress is contemplating adding a question : Are you an illegal immigrant ? The Census Bureau , as it has in the past , is planning to count all residents of the nation regardless of legal status . But the Senate already has voted to force the Census Bureau to exclude illegal immigrants in preparing tallies for congressional reapportionment . A majority of the members of the House of Representatives has signaled support . `` It is wrong to apportion congressional seats by counting people who would be deported if our immigration laws were enforced , '' Rep. Thomas Petri -LRB- R. , Wis. -RRB- said in a recent House debate . Replied Rep. Jim Kolbe -LRB- R. , Ariz. -RRB- : `` A very clear reading of the Constitution says that we shall count all those who are present . '' Although the debate is often couched in constitutional arguments , it 's largely driven by geography . Wisconsin has few illegal immigrants ; Arizona has lots . `` It boils down to regional politics , '' says Arturo Vargas , census-program director for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund , one of several Hispanic organizations lobbying in favor of counting illegal immigrants . Counting illegal immigrants in 1990 is likely to mean one less seat in the House for Pennsylvania and one more for California , according to the private Population Reference Bureau . The Census Bureau 's chief antagonist in the Senate , Sen. Richard Shelby -LRB- D. , Ala. -RRB- , says seats for Connecticut , Michigan , North Carolina and Alabama also are at risk . On the other hand , Texas , Florida and New York could benefit . `` Illegal aliens are actually taking representation away from Americans , '' says David Ray , spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform . The Census Bureau , based on comparisons of its data with figures kept by the Immigration and Naturalization Service , estimates that it counted about two million illegal immigrants in 1980 , half of them in California . That meant one extra seat in the House for California and New York and one less seat for Indiana and Georgia . `` You end up diluting the vote when you start including illegals , '' says Rep. Thomas Ridge -LRB- R. , Pa. -RRB- , who leads the charge against the practice in the House . Organizations that represent Hispanics are particularly worried about the congressional campaign . They fear that any attempt to ascertain the legal status of respondents will exacerbate difficulties the Census Bureau already faces in accurately counting Hispanics and blacks . `` As it is , the Census Bureau has a tremendous challenge in trying to convince everybody that the census is confidential , '' Mr. Vargas says . `` If the Census Bureau attempts to ask people their immigration status , that 's going to be even harder . '' The Census Bureau agrees . `` We tell people : Put your name down on the census form . We wo n't report you to the housing authority -LCB- if there are too many occupants -RCB- , '' says Peter Bonpanne , an assistant director . `` If they see a lot of questions on there about somebody 's legal status , that could hurt all kinds of people 's participation . '' Although the 106 million census forms can be reprinted if Congress acts soon , wording a question so that illegal immigrants answer accurately is a challenge , Mr. Bonpanne says . The bureau already plans to ask one in six respondents if they are citizens . To satisfy congressional critics , it would have to ask everyone that question , and then ask the legal status of anyone who is n't a citizen . Rep. Ridge dismisses the practical problems . `` We 're spending billions on the census , and the only thing we get is a bunch of belly-aching about how difficult it will be , '' he complains . `` The primary purpose of the census is to distribute political power ... not to gather demographic information . '' The Senate , by a vote of 58-41 , added a provision to a pending immigration bill to require the government to subtract illegal immigrants when it comes up with figures used for reapportionment . Because California , Texas and other populous states that benefit from counting the illegal immigrants have such large delegations in the House , the House has always presented a bigger obstacle to the opponents of counting such immigrants . The House did open the door to an amendment to a spending bill that would have barred census takers from `` knowingly '' counting any illegal immigrants , but the provision was quickly sidetracked on procedural grounds . All sides in the debate predict a lawsuit no matter what Congress does . In 1980 , a federal appeals court upheld a lower-court decision throwing out a suit that sought to bar the government from counting illegal immigrants . A similar suit was dismissed this year when a federal district judge in Pittsburgh ruled that the states that sued -- Pennsylvania , Kansas and Alabama -- could n't show they had been harmed . The Constitution simply calls for apportioning the House on the basis of the `` the whole number of persons '' in each state . The Constitution originally called for counting `` free persons '' and indentured servants , and for counting slaves as three-fifths of a person . That was changed with the passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868 . Only `` Indians not taxed '' were excluded , but no one has fallen into that category since 1940 . Much of the argument in Congress turns on the use of the word `` person '' in references to the census . Elsewhere in the Constitution , the framers used the word `` citizen . '' They wrote , for instance , that only those who have been `` seven years a citizen of the United States '' can serve in the House . The word `` person '' was repeated in the 14th Amendment , which was drafted after the Civil War . Those in Congress and at the Census Bureau who favor continuing the practice of counting all residents of the U.S. conclude that this language unambiguously resolves the debate . Their opponents say the drafters of the Constitution and the 14th Amendment never even considered the concept of an `` illegal immigrant , '' let alone contemplated their current numbers . -- @ Estimates of Illegal Aliens @ Counted in 1980 Census @ TOTAL U.S. 2,057,000 @ California 1,024,000 @ New York 234,000 @ Texas 186,000 @ Illinois 135,000 @ Florida 80,000 @ Source : Census Bureau
extractive_keyphrases: illegal aliens 1990 census census bureau congressional reapportionment congressional seats illegal immigrants congressional campaign