Announces plans to file an amendment to appropriations bill barring federal funds from being used to secretly fly illegal aliens into the country
WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today spoke on the Senate floor calling out Senate Democrats for siding with illegal aliens over American citizens by voting to count illegal aliens in the allocation of congressional seats and electoral votes to preserve their political power.
Hagerty also announced that he plans to file an amendment to this week’s appropriations bill to prohibit federal funds from being used to secretly fly illegal aliens from other nations directly into states across the country. Recent reporting revealed that, in 2023, the Biden Administration flew as many as 320,000 illegal aliens into the U.S. to deliberately resettle them in American communities while artificially reducing the record-breaking number of border crossings happening under its watch.
Remarks as prepared for delivery:
I rise today as the Senate again finds itself facing a potential government shutdown due to the Majority Leader’s political games. And again, the Senate must consider what we will do in response to the grave national security crisis emanating from our southern border.
It’s déjà vu from two weeks ago, when I offered a simple amendment regarding one corrosive, anti-democratic effect of this crisis.
My amendment would have stopped illegal aliens from being counted for allotting Congressional seats, and therefore, electoral college votes.
It did so by requiring the census to determine basic population statistics, like the number of citizens, non-citizens, and illegal aliens living in the country, and by requiring that only U.S. citizens be counted in determining the number of House seats and electoral votes each state gets.
Currently, illegal aliens are counted when determining Americans’ representation in government, and the worth of their votes. The more illegal aliens and non-citizens in your state or district, the greater your voting power in Congress and presidential elections.
This means that in a state like California—or a city like New York—millions of illegal aliens result in several more Congressional seats and Electoral College votes for that jurisdiction.
That helps explain why the Majority Leader worked so fervently two weeks ago to avoid a vote on my commonsense amendment—until it was clear such obstruction would lead to a government shutdown. It also explains why every single Democrat voting on my amendment opposed it.
Because when it comes to the Census, the Majority Leader believes, and I quote, “Every person must be counted.” Evidently, that means illegal aliens too.
And with respect to commonsense proposals like mine—to count citizens, not illegal aliens—for apportioning voting power in America—what does the Majority Leader have to say?
He calls it an attempt to weaponize the census. That’s really rich. Aren’t Democrats weaponizing the Census by counting how many people are living in our country illegally? Do we count diplomats? Do we count people that are here on vacation? Why would we count people who are here illegally? That is the essence of weaponizing the Census.
Here’s what’s really going on. Several weeks ago, video emerged of a Democrat House member from the Majority Leader’s home state, in which she called for more illegal immigration to her district for “redistricting purposes.”
What she means is that Americans are fleeing blue cities and state en masse because of bad government, but congressional seats are allotted based on population, so if you’re losing population, you either have to backfill it or lose congressional seats.
This representative stated that, because of population loss, she needed to fill her district with illegal aliens to keep from losing her seat—exactly what my amendment would have prevented.
Mr. President, the representative who made these comments is not only from the same state as the Majority Leader, but she represents the same district that the Democrat Leader formerly represented in the House of Representatives.
This is the same district in which James Madison High School recently cleared out its students to make room for illegal alien housing. That’s even the high school the majority leader attended!
Talk about weaponizing the census.
Don’t believe me? Then listen to New York City itself.
Just last week, New York City announced that it is challenging the 2023 Census Bureau annual estimates, arguing the government neglected to count 50 thousand illegal aliens currently in the city. They’re desperate to count these illegal aliens because 727,000 people have moved out of New York City since 2020. They’ve got to backfill that population to preserve their federal influence.
It is clear why the Majority Leader and my Democrat colleagues voted against any changes to the Census. It’s not because they’re afraid that Republicans will “weaponize” it. It’s because Democrats already have.
Prior to this vote, this concept was decried by Democrats and the media as a “conspiracy theory.” Their unanimous Democrat vote against ending this practice changed it from a “conspiracy theory” into a “conspiracy.” Period.
It’s why they’ve done nothing to secure our southern border. And it’s why there is no outrage from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle when confronted with the fact that the number of illegal aliens who have entered the United States since Biden took office exceeds the population of thirty-six states.
And President Biden and Democrats aren’t just sitting back and allowing the crisis at our southern border to unfold—they are actively encouraging it.
For example, President Biden has been secretly flying hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens from foreign countries into blue-city airports across the United States in order to resettle here.
Earlier this month, scarce details regarding the Administration’s secret flights came to light, revealing that more than 320,000 illegal aliens were flown directly into the U.S. last year. One can’t help but wonder whether the President is trying to make it even easier for blue states to backfill their declining populations and shore up their political power—by delivering the illegal aliens directly to them.
Flying migrants from foreign countries into the U.S. in the midst of a record-shattering illegal immigration crisis is completely absurd. I plan to soon file an amendment to the appropriations bill that would prohibit the Biden Administration from doing this.
I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this commonsense measure.
The question is: Are Democrats willing to allow a vote on my amendment to stop President Biden from using secret flights to import hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into the United States? Or are they so desperate to preserve this political power grab that they cannot risk the possibility of losing it by allowing this vote to occur?
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield back.
###