The impact of illegal immigration fill our TV screens, crime blotters, and morgues every day. But too few Americans appreciate how lawlessness at the border advances other liberal policies. Illegal immigration gives Democrats extra votes in Congress and greater control over all three branches of government. It forces you to spend even more of your tax dollars on transgender procedures and masks the failure of big-spending government programs. Most offensively, it drowns out your voice in your own government.

Democrats draw artificial power for all of their plans — including expanded abortion and transgender procedures — from a seemingly unrelated issue: counting illegal immigrants in the U.S. census. Under the Constitution, the number of congressional seats, Electoral College votes, and federal funding each state receives depends on its population. Lumping in illegal immigrants and resident aliens with native-born Americans gives sanctuary states undeserved power. This opaque issue exploded into the open last week, when Senate Republicans introduced a measure to give you back the full sovereignty you are due as an American citizen — and Senate Democrats shot it down.

Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) introduced the Equal Representation Act (S. 3659 and H.R. 7109), which would ask census-takers if they are U.S. citizens — and count only U.S. citizens when apportioning congressional seats. Chuck Schumer’s Senate would not allow a vote, but on March 8, Hagerty attached it as an amendment to a $460 billion spending package. Senate Democrats predictably voted against an honest census en bloc, 45-51. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined with the Democrats to give them an anti-accountability majority. Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) claimed the measure attempted to “attack vulnerable, underrepresented groups,” because “our country has never excluded undocumented individuals from the apportionment process.”

But Hirono is wrong. The U.S. Census Bureau explains the Constitution’s enumeration clause (Article 1, Section 2) did not count “Indians not taxed,” because these individuals lived “under some sort of separate sovereignty recognized by a treaty, and did not vote or perform other duties related to citizenship.” This held until the American people granted U.S. citizenship to all tribal members born on U.S. soil in the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, signed by President Calvin Coolidge. By definition, non-citizens have not been granted citizenship — although three states and the District of Columbia allow non-citizens to vote in elections, and only seven states prohibit it (New York City would be on that list absent constitutional limitations.) Non-citizens should not have any impact on the course of U.S. politics. Yet the same politicians continually crowing about mythical Russian attacks on “Our Democracy” want illegal immigrants to shape the course of our everyday government.

Counting non-citizens in the U.S. census has a palpable impact on Congress, transferring power from conservative states to liberal ones. A report from immigration scholars found that counting non-citizens in the census redistributes eight congressional seats: It gives extra seats to California (3), Texas (2), New York, New Jersey, and Florida (one each); and it takes seats away from Alabama, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio, Rhode Island, and West Virginia (one seat each). Illegal immigrants alone transfer one seat each from Ohio, Alabama, and Minnesota to California, Texas, and New York.

Imagine a Congress without Eric Swalwell, Ted Lieu, and Maxine Waters. In their place, we would have an extra Jim Jordan, and Alabama voters wouldn’t have had to choose between conservative incumbents Barry Moore and Jerry Carl on Super Tuesday. The scholars similarly broke down some of the congressional districts with the largest share of non-citizens. Among them is New York’s 14th district, represented by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Thus, the legally dubious policy of counting non-citizens in the census empowers the most radical left-wing voices. The prescient John Zmirak wrote in 2019, “Open Borders Equals Abortion.” Today, open borders equals abortion, porn in school libraries, and transgender surgeries for children.

It bears noting, these figures came from 2019, before the Biden administration added an unprecedented number of illegal immigrants to the U.S. population. Without mass deportations, the next redistribution of voting power will be even greater.

Of course, none of these radical representatives truly represent illegal immigrants. Leftists count illegal immigrants much the way slave states lobbied to count slaves: Slaveowners wanted to make their slaves do double labor, working in the fields and giving slave states more political power. Child labor and human trafficking remain a concern for illegal immigrants, as well. “Undocumented migrants” hold down labor costs, undercutting U.S. citizens’ wages (especially black citizens) while handing blue states a greater share of the federal budget and political representation.

Although the immediate impact falls on Congress, counting illegal immigrants in the census also affects the other two branches of government. These illicit congressional seats give states additional votes in the Electoral College, which determines the presidency. Since the president appoints Supreme Court justices, an inaccurate Census creates a whole-of-government distortion of democracy.

Counting illegal immigrants not only gives liberals the votes to implement left-wing policies, it forces you to pay for them. Census figures directed $2.8 trillion in federal spending through 353 federal programs in 2021, the U.S Census Bureau reported. Before the pandemic, the greatest census-related cost to U.S. taxpayers came from Medicaid: The lower a state’s median income, the more money it gets, so it pays to pad the numbers. Now, consider: Medicaid programs in 26 states and the District of Columbia cover so-called “gender-affirming care” (cross-sex hormone injections and/or transgender surgeries). A total of 83% of America’s sanctuary states cover transgender procedures through Medicaid. Overcounting their population means you foot more of the bill for these life-altering procedures. Additionally, eight of the 10 states that cover abortion-on-demand through Medicaid are sanctuary states — and AOC has led the charge to overturn the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal taxpayer dollars from funding most of these abortions.

This policy should concern fiscal conservatives, as well. Counting non-citizens in the census generally subsidizes high-tax, high-regulation states at the expense of low-tax, fiscally responsible states. Data from the 2020 census showed U.S. citizens fleeing California, New York, and Illinois (all high-tax, sanctuary states) in favor of Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee. These citizens take federal funding with them — unless blue states can plug the gap with illegal immigrants and non-citizens, effectively transferring wealth from U.S. citizens to foreigners and their left-wing political leaders. “While people continue to flee Democrat-run cities, desperate Democrats are back-filling the mass exodus with illegal immigrants,” said Hagerty.

The Left has reacted radically each time someone suggests this policy, which would bolster citizenship and move America one step closer to constitutional order. The U.S. Census asked about citizenship until the question was removed from the 1960 census. The Left’s histrionics when President Donald Trump tried to reinsert the question into the 2020 census underline how closely they guard their ill-gotten money and power. After the vote, Haggerty declared, “Democrats’ unanimous opposition to this commonsense measure confirms that they’re using illegal aliens and sanctuary cities to increase their political power.” Indeed, I have long argued that the Left’s position on every policy in Washington can be explained based on whether it increases or decreases their political power. It is the one thing that explains everything the Left does.

Jesus said, “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). This scriptural truth plays itself out daily in Washington, D.C. While Christian voters hide our talent in the earth, those dedicated to foisting extreme policies on the nation use every lever to impose their agenda. They are apparently willing to pile up the bodies of Laken Riley, Kate Steinle, and an untold number of angel families in the process.

Christians would point out that the Bible repeatedly condemns false weights and measures (Leviticus 19:36, Deuteronomy 25:13, Proverbs 16:11, Proverbs 20:10; and Proverbs 20:23), thereby excluding efforts to mix non-citizens into a census intended to represent the American people. The Bible provides precedents for taking a census only of citizens (Exodus 30:12, Numbers 26:4, II Samuel 24:1) and excluding some residents (Numbers 1:49). Enrollment in this census sometimes qualified non-citizens (II Chronicles 2:17) and citizens alike (Numbers 14:29) for unique civic responsibilities.

The story strikes me personally, as members of my own spiritual tradition prepare to observe Lent. During this time, we say a beautiful ancient prayer which begins, “O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk.” The thousands of crimes the government documents at the hands of illegal immigrants illustrates the ways an insatiable thirst for fleeting, earthly power hurts some, kills others, and destroys the souls of those so afflicted.

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.

RELATED VIDEO: Biden would rather put Americans in extreme danger than admit Trump was right

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

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The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

“I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.” — Andrew Jackson

“The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity. Today it is becoming harder to speak out, with the inception of the Patriot Act, the president has legislated free speech to be a crime.” — Frank Serpico

“Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.” —  Thomas Jefferson

“And I am saying, how about the other two branches? And putting the pressure on our representatives in the Senate and the Congress, and the court system. They should be counter-acting this corruption, but they are sitting there silent.” —  Sibel Edmonds

:Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.” — Lord Acton

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When Mike Johnson was elected as Speaker, I had my suspicions regarding his capabilities.  A few things immediately came to light which made me doubt he’d be any better than McCarthy.  I voiced that opinion in emails and one of my friends commented, “But he prays in the House Chapel every morning.”  I said, “So do the Muslims.”

I’ve always felt that anyone who proclaims their Christian faith over and over in public is hiding something.  Mike Pence comes to mind.

My intuition aside, Mike Johnson is only one man.  He has to deal with the Stalinist Party and the neo-con Trotskyites in his own party.  With the Senate and the White House in the hands of the Democrats, his opportunities are few.  However, he can and should completely terminate corrupt and unconstitutional legislation that would be catastrophic to America.  And that includes standing firm against the $95 billion foreign aid package, which includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, and around $9.2 billion for “humanitarian assistance” in Gaza passed by the Senate without any border policy changes. Within this bill is a hidden impeachment clause that could backfire on Trump if he’s elected.

McCarthy to Johnson

Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted after Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a motion to remove McCarthy for not keeping his promises.  His term as House speaker lasted only nine months.  Republicans dropped him because he broke his promises and made backroom deals with Biden and House Democrats.  McCarthy’s Leadership PAC received funding from Sequoia Capital, an important investment firm promoting business in China.  Critics say McCarthy “shut down” investigations into the CCP’s deals with Sequoia, BlackRock, and other Wall Street firms.

Congressman McCarthy only voted with the US Constitution 50% of the time.

On October 25, 2023, with a vote of 220, Mike Johnson was elected Speaker of the House.  He votes with the Constitution only 67% of the time.

Johnson calls himself a Constitutional attorney, yet he is a proponent of Mark Meckler’s Convention of States (CoS), which is heavily funded by the Koch organizations.  As I’ve stated in past articles, the CoS is an Article V Constitutional Convention.  Council on Foreign Relations and CoS board member, Robert George, has already rewritten the Second Amendment of our unalienable Bill of Rights.  This deceitfully promoted convention is not simply to propose new amendments; it is to totally replace or change our founding document.

The House Republican majority is weakening.  Since Mr. Johnson has become Speaker, Rep. George Santos has been expelled from Congress despite being “innocent until proven guilty.”  The charges against him were brought by United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.  The House ousted Santos without a conviction or without having committed treason. Democrat Tom Suozzi replaced him.

McCarthy decided to leave the House at the end of December 2023.

The Republicans controlled the House with 221 Republicans to 213 Democrats, making them a majority, but now they’ve lost two.  Rep. Matt Gaetz is again being investigated by the House Ethics Committee.

Should Gaetz be forced to resign, the House would precariously hold the majority by only five votes.

Hannity’s Interview with Speaker Johnson

In introducing the nation to the new speaker, the first hour of Sean Hannity’s interview was a one-on-one interview with Mike Johnson.

Johnson spoke about President Biden’s mental decline which is obvious to both Americans and foreign leaders.

He was asked what he believes, and commented that people need only open their Bibles to understand Mike Johnson.

He mentioned that both Chip Roy (R-TX) and Byron Donalds (R-FL) were working on plans for Continuing Resolutions (CRs) cutting spending by eight percent, securing the border and protecting our military and veterans.  They’ve yet to come up with anything but “clean” CRs and have not even attempted a budget. Both Roy and Donalds support an Article V Constitutional Convention.  (Roy actually nominated Donalds for Speaker.)

Speaker Johnson ended the first hour saying, “Look, this place is filled with people of good faith, deep conviction and they understand the necessity of working together.”

I don’t think so, Speaker Johnson.

His first bill, a $14.3 billion dollar aid package to Israel passed the House 213-200, but was shut down in the Senate and slammed by President Biden.  Nice theatre though.

Johnson, who inherited the problem of a potential government shutdown when he was elected to the role after weeks of paralysis, saw 93 members of his conference in the Republican-controlled lower legislative chamber vote against his proposal.  Almost all Democrats, 209 members, voted for the plan with two voting against it.  Why did 93 Republicans vote against it?  Because almost all “clean continuing resolutions” prolong government funding at current levels without any policy changes.  They don’t want repeats of McCarthy’s CRs, they want changes made!

On February 29th, the House passed another clean CR; 207 Democrats joined 113 Republicans in a 320-99 vote to approve the short-term stopgap measure, which buys Congress more time to agree on funding for the full fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

Again, nothing is in these CRs about the border!  Do the American people realize what this is costing us?  An illegal alien family of four can get government assistance to the tune of $20,000 a month.  You read that right, $20,000 a month!  Watch the eight- minute video!

The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill passed on December 6^th, 2023.  It does not overturn the Pentagon’s policy of reimbursing servicemembers who travel to obtain abortions, and it drops House language which would have blocked coverage of transition surgeries for transgender troops.

But there’s more….

Speaker Johnson tossed into the “must-pass” bill yet another extension of Section 702 of the FISA Act; it’s not surprising that he wanted to rush the bill through without the possibility of amendment. Section 702 allows the government to intercept and retain without a warrant the communications of any American who is in contact with a non-US citizen. It is clearly a violation of the Fourth Amendment which is supposed to protect Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures.  The NDAA also contained a $600 million gift to the corrupt government of Ukraine.  Senate votes. House votes.

By a vote of 250 to 180, the House voted against the legislation that would send $17.6 billion to Israel, with 166 Democrats and 14 Republicans opposing the measure. It fell short because it was introduced under an expedited procedure requiring a two-thirds majority for passage. The vote was largely along party lines, although 14 Republicans opposed the bill and 46 Democrats supported it.

In the first vote to impeach DHS Mayorkas, four republicans voted against the impeachment.  One wonders why Johnson called a vote if he didn’t know that Ken Buck (R-CO), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Blake Moore (R-UT) and Mike Gallagher (R-WI) would vote against it.

In the second vote, Blake Moore switched, bringing the vote to 214-213 for Mayorkas’ impeachment.  Doesn’t say much for the 213 who voted against impeachment of the man who is allowing America’s invasion from China and third world countries.

The only Palestinian member of Congress, Rashida Tlaib, was censored for her anti-Semitic rhetoric by House Republicans and Democrats with a vote of 234-188.  The punishment is one step below expulsion from the House.  She should have been ousted like Santos. She’s a Hamas Trojan Horse.

Second Hour Interview

In the second hour of the Hannity interview, House Republicans were brought in and a number of them spoke about various topics. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Tom Emmer (R-MN) are seated next to Speaker Johnson.  Scalise votes with the Constitution 67% of the time, Stefanik 60% and Emmer 70%.

They conversed about border security, Biden and his son, Hunter, energy independence, fiscal sanity, law and order, the rule of law and moral clarity. Hannity asked them about the prospect of domestic terrorism with an open border, the purported weaponization of government, as well as the cognitive state of Joe Biden.

Elise Stefanik is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, as are other House Republicans.  On February 17th, I received a form letter from Speaker Johnson.  He requested that we help his loyal friend, Elise Stefanik win her re-election, as she knows exactly what is at stake in 2024.

Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Byron Donalds (R-FL) were also featured with Speaker Johnson.  Lawler votes with the Constitution only 35% of the time.  As for Byron Donalds, he’s no friend of liberty and freedom.

Donalds, has been working with the Democrats to advance digital currency. At the Collier County Republican Men’s breakfast in July of 2022, Byron Donalds said, “The Democrats have promised it will never be used for tracking law abiding citizens.”

Is he naïve or one of them?  The Stalinist Democrat Party is who put J6ers in prison.  It is why Speaker Johnson courageously blurred the faces of people at the Capitol on January 6th on the portions of the videos released.

However, only .04% of the videos are available to the public.  The House January 6^th Committee deleted more than 100 encrypted files days before GOP took majority.  Totally unconstitutional, but then consider who was on the committee.  Johnson is allegedly trying to have those files decrypted.

In October of 2022, at Alfie Oakes’ Seed to Table, another public meeting was held where Donalds again was promoting digital currency.  Alfie Oakes is also promoting the destruction of our 1787 Constitution by advocating an Article V Convention, just like Byron Donalds, Ron DeSantis and Mike Johnson.

Donalds is also tied to Americans for Prosperity, a Koch organization, who are for open borders, gay marriage, abortion and UN Agenda 21/30. Link, Link.  They are also funding and promoting another Constitutional Convention, just like Soros’ Open Society foundations.

A few years ago, Byron’s wife allegedly tried to do a hostile takeover of Mason Classical Academy. There’s a lot of bitterness in the community because they wanted to run the charter school, Mason Classical Academy, which has one of the top ratings in the country.  They did not conceive of the charter school, but had, at one time, been on the board. Kelly Lichter and her husband Nick were the founders. As a state Representative, Byron tried to write bills to make it easier for his wife to accomplish the takeover.

At a Republican Executive Committee meeting a few months ago, Donalds and his top staff member, Larry Wilcoxson, tried to start a public argument and disagreement with Kelly Lichter.  They were backing her leftist opponent. Tensions boiled to such a point that Florida Politics reported it.  A video lasting two minutes and 19 seconds mostly shows Donalds, with staffers Jesse Purdon and Larry Wilcoxson, speaking inaudibly with Lichter in a corner of the store.

Larry Wilcoxson allegedly takes home a six-figure salary.  He is the top aide to Donalds and is his best friend.

Wilcoxson has been arrested multiple times including for child molestation. Link

He was arrested in 2014 for grand theft auto, a third-degree felony. In 2006, he was charged with three counts of child molestation of a 13-year-old girl in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 2008, Wilcoxson was arrested for charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery with a weapon. He had previously been fired for allegedly exposing himself to a female school custodian at Indianapolis’ Donnan Middle School while he was a substitute teacher. In 2006, Collier County records indicate Wilcoxson was the defendant in several traffic cases and a paternity suit.

Many of the family grassroots leaders call this man, Wilcoxson, “Byron’s thug.” Before anyone backs Byron, they need to do their homework, and that includes Donald Trump.

Why choose the neo-con Trotskyites, the WEF members, and the likes of Byron Donalds to speak with Hannity as top Republicans?  Why weren’t true conservative House members like Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Thomas Massey (R-KY) and a few others featured with Johnson?

Unspoken Issues

The invasion at the southern border should be at the top of concerns, yet everything but the border has been discussed.  Four months has passed since Johnson became speaker, and the border is still wide open.  The filth flowing into our country will vote in the November elections, and the increase in crime is already obvious. Ten million illegal aliens have entered our country under Joe Biden, including Chinese communists, Middle East terrorists, and criminals from third world nations.  It is the Cloward-Piven Marxist strategy to overload the system and collapse the economy.

There was no mention of the alleged 2020 election fraud, the J6 prisoners, the January 6^th videos being totally released, how they will succeed in closing the border, health care, our military, the perversion in education, how deeply they will cut spending, who those cuts will impact, and the massive debt.

Donald Trump’s name was never mentioned.

Neither was abortion.

Speaker Johnson had killed the abortion ban in Louisiana in 2022 while serving as US Congressman.  Pastors Jeff Durbin and Brian Gunter discussed exactly how Johnson killed the pro-life bill that would have banned abortion in Louisiana.

You’ll want to see the 26-minute video between these two pastors and how disappointed they were.

Pastor Gunter called Johnson’s tactics, “Pragmatism rather than principle.”

All the national, state and local pro-life groups were against this bill, HB813. (Loss of Louisiana funding?)  Mike told Pastors Durbin and Gunter that he agreed with the bill, but it was the wrong time to pass the legislation since they have a razor-thin majority in the US Congress, the Louisiana state house and the Governorship. That was his excuse.  The Pastors asked, “Is there ever a wrong time to do the right thing?”  Amos 5:15, “Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.”  Congressman Johnson threatened these Baptist pastors that if they moved forward with this bill, it would damage their careers.

We are 34.4 trillion dollars in debt and the interest payments on that debt dwarfs all other government spending!

A crash will be inevitable.  U.S. National Debt Clock: Real Time (USDebtClock.org)

There is no more time for “business as usual.”

©2024. Kelleigh Nelson. All rights reserved.