Nashville Standard

United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Rules Committee, expressed his approval for the passage of the House version of the Hagerty-authored Equal Representation Act in the House of Representatives. This legislation aims to ensure that only legal citizens are considered when allotting congressional districts and Electoral College votes that determine presidential elections.

The current method, which counts illegal aliens for representation purposes, is argued to dilute the votes of Americans in areas with relatively few illegal aliens. Critics argue this approach incentivizes open borders and sanctuary cities, enhancing the political power of states and voters who support these policies.

Earlier this year, a video surfaced featuring a Democrat House member from New York advocating for increased illegal immigration to her district for "redistricting purposes". This implies that due to population loss, she aimed to fill her district with illegal aliens to prevent losing her seat.

"The House of Representatives rightly voted today to protect the power of Americans’ votes in our elections," said Senator Hagerty. He criticized the inclusion of illegal aliens and non-citizens in congressional district apportionment and electoral mapping, arguing it encourages illegal immigration and undermines equal representation by giving more weight to some citizens' votes over others', particularly in Democrat-run sanctuary cities.

Hagerty also criticized Senate Democrats for unanimously blocking this bill earlier in the year, accusing them of prioritizing their own power over Americans' voting rights by leveraging illegal immigration. "We don’t count people here in the U.S. on temporary assignment or on vacation to allocate voting power—why would Democrats argue to count illegal aliens to allocate our congressional districts and the electoral vote?" he questioned.

Hagerty concluded by thanking Representative Edwards for his leadership in securing passage for this legislation in the House, urging swift action from the Senate to send this legislation to the President's desk.