Thread: Lou Dobbs--The Census and The Vote for Illegals

Below is a transcript from Lou Dobbs' show, Dec. 6th, on which the poll that is posted under "Polls" was based:


Also tonight, fears are growing that our nation's bedrock nation of one man, one person, one vote is in serious jeopardy. The House today held a hearing into how non-citizens, many of them illegal aliens, are skewing census figures and threatening U.S. democracy itself.

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Non-citizens, including illegal aliens, count as much as U.S. citizens when it comes to dividing up seats in the House of Representatives. Apportionment is based on the census which includes all persons in a state, whether they're legal or not. Representative Candice Miller is seeking a constitutional amendment to change that before the 2010 census.

REP. CANDICE MILLER (R), MICHIGAN: When we are voting in Congress about issues like national security or border security, or illegal immigration, we allow illegal immigrants to influence the outcome of those votes.

SYLVESTER: Because of the presence of illegal aliens, California gained three seats in the House in 2000. North Carolina added one seat. Indiana, Michigan and Mississippi each lost a seat. And Montana failed to get a seat that it would have otherwise.

Taking into account non-citizens, including guest workers, tilts the numbers even more. Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Utah each had one fewer seat in 2000. If thousands of new foreign workers were allowed in the country, it would further redistribute seats.

STEVEN CAMAROTA, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: Even the guest worker program has profound consequences for the United States, including political representation outside of the workforce.

SYLVESTER: Latinos groups argue everyone should have a voice in Congress regardless if they're eligible to vote or not.

LAWRENCE GONZALEZ, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LATINO ELECTED & APP. OFFICE: The passage of this resolution would only serve to isolate segments of society and send a message that only U.S. citizens have a right to be heard by our government and elected officials.

SYLVESTER: But considering non-citizens to determine seats in Congress, many argue that dilutes the very meaning of citizenship.

And there's more at stake than the House of Representatives. Congressional delegations determine the number of electoral votes and ultimately who sits in the White House.

SYLVESTER: Over time, certain states have lost a significant number of seats in the House. Consider Michigan. In 1960, it had 19 representatives. Today it has 15. Ohio had 24 in 1960. Today only 18 -- Lou.

DOBBS: And is there any likelihood that people are intelligent enough to start dealing with this issue that is affecting the structure of the United States Congress?

SYLVESTER: This is going to be quite a battle, because it will determine essentially who stays and who goes. And you can expect that states like California, which has essentially been on the winning side of this, their representatives will fight to keep the system as it is. Representatives from Ohio and Michigan and Montana, the states on the losing end, you can kind of see where this will be going as well -- Lou. DOBBS: Thank you very much.

Lisa Sylvester.

That brings us to the subject of our poll tonight. Do you believe non-citizens should be counted in the census and have the privilege of voting, yes or no? Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results here later.

STEVEN CAMAROTA, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: Even the guest worker program has profound consequences for the United States, including political representation outside of the workforce.

"including political representation outside of the workforce"

Well, what is actually does is provide political representation for foreign nationals who are foreign agents of foreign governments.

DUH!!

LAWRENCE GONZALEZ, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LATINO ELECTED & APP. OFFICE: The passage of this resolution would only serve to isolate segments of society and send a message that only U.S. citizens have a right to be heard by our government and elected officials.

No, Gonzalez, your statement is not true. Foreign agents hire lobbyists and work our System to the bone. Not being able to vote has NOTHING to do with be "heard" in Congress. All you have to do is schedule a meeting, bring a big check, and tell them what you want. They don't care if you're a citizen or non-citizen. They just want you to "show them them the money".

BUT, American Citizens are and must remain the ONLY persons to elect these people to office entitling ONLY AMERICANS to remove them from office and elect replacements.

NON-citizens should not be counted in the US Census and NON-citizens should NEVER have the right tovote in our elections. They may return to their nation of citizenship and vote there.

This is just about THE MOST absurd demand I've heard YET.

Can you just see US going to another country and VOTING??? Whether we were there LEGALLY or NOT, we would SURE NOT BE ALLOWED to VOTE unless we were a CITIZEN of that country.

THIS IS SHEER INSANITY. In fact, I believe Lou used that analogy!

Absolute NUTS, WACKO, PSYCHOTIC, INSANITY. Only Turd Balls would come up with something this STUPID.

No....and I mean HELL NO!!

I mean it just defies LOGIC. Now, it makes me understand better why Bush and ALL OF THE REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS are pandering to the Hispanic vote. ILLEGALS CAN VOTE evidently. If not, they are sure gonna be able to soon.