90 Miles From Tyranny

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Does Allowing Noncitizens to Be Counted in Redistricting Violate One Person, One Vote Standard?

When states, counties, and towns redraw political districts, is it constitutional for them to include individuals who are ineligible to vote, such as noncitizens?

Or does that dilute the vote of eligible citizens and violate the one-person, one-vote standard that the U.S. Supreme Court established for all redistricting fifty years ago in Reynolds v. Sims (1964)?

The Supreme Court is set to finally decide this issue in Evenwel v. Abbott—something it has avoided for decades up until this year.

In Evenwel, two Texas voters claim that including noncitizens in the population used to draw their legislative districts violates the Equal Protection Clause. These voters were placed by the state legislature in senate districts whose voting populations deviate anywhere from 31 to 49 percent from the ideal population of a...

Girls With Guns

Immigrant Welfare Addiction

Non-citizens in the U.S.—and especially recent Middle Eastern refugees—are addicted to welfare programs, two newly released studies suggest.

Although open-borders propaganda typically claims that illegal aliens are hardworking and industrious, one of the reports unveiled yesterday showed that among illegal alien households with children, a shocking 87 percent accept benefits from one or more welfare programs, compared to just 52 percent of native households.

The reports come as a rancorous debate rages in American society over what immigration policies best serve the economic, cultural, and national security interests of the United States. Americans on both sides of the partisan divide are becoming increasingly angry that the nation’s borders are porous and that illegal aliens are able to access generous government benefits upon arrival. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has rocketed to the top of the GOP field largely by opposing amnesty and pushing for the enforcement of existing laws, including the removal of millions of illegals.

Although illegal aliens impose a heavy burden on taxpayers, legal permanent residents are even more likely to be enamored of public welfare programs, according to Steven Camarota, the author of one of the reports and director of research at the respected nonpartisan Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).

Legal immigrant households make extensive use of most welfare programs, while illegal alien households primarily benefit from food programs and Medicaid through U.S.-born children. According to the report, low levels of education, as opposed to a refusal to work, help to explain this higher use of welfare by legal aliens, who are also known as lawful permanent residents (green card holders). The report states: