Rep. Mary Miller, 44 House Republicans Push Citizens-Only Census

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) and 44 House colleagues are urging the Commerce Department to make sure the 2030 Census counts only U.S. citizens when it divides up seats in Congress, according to a letter Miller’s office released on Oct. 30.

The letter, sent to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, endorses changes the Census Bureau has already proposed and asks the agency to go further, according to Miller’s press release. The lawmakers want the bureau to exclude all noncitizens from the apportionment count, including green card holders, temporary visa holders and other foreign nationals, the release said.

I'm leading 44 Members in a letter to @CommerceGov requesting a 2030 Census that counts ONLY U.S. citizens for apportionment and eliminates the unnecessary questions on race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

The sole constitutional purpose of the Census is to count citizens… pic.twitter.com/aajpKRyFe9

— Rep. Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) October 30, 2026

“Congressional representation should be determined by American citizens, not millions of foreign nationals who have no allegiance to our country,” Miller said in the release. She added that Americans “should not have their political representation diluted” by illegal immigration, and said she was “supporting President Trump’s efforts to restore integrity to the Census.”

Miller made the same case in a post on X, writing that the letter requests “a 2030 Census that counts ONLY U.S. citizens for apportionment and eliminates the unnecessary questions on race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.” On Saturday she followed up on X with a short message: “Remove every noncitizen from the Census.”

What the Census Bureau has proposed

The letter lands as a public comment window closes. The Census Bureau published a proposed rule on Sept. 10 titled “Decennial Census of the Population of Americans; Proposed Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions,” and later extended the comment period to Nov. 2, 2026, according to a notice in the Federal Register.

According to that notice, the rule would add new federal regulations defining each person’s “usual residence” for census purposes and setting standards for which demographic questions may appear on the census form. A summary posted by the University of Washington’s Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology says the proposal would change the single April 1 census date to an enumeration period running from Jan. 3 to April 1, and would exclude some foreign citizens from the apportionment base.

The bureau’s own explanation, as quoted in that summary, proposes to keep lawful permanent residents in the apportionment base while excluding “illegal aliens and aliens whose legal status is less durable and indefinite in length than lawful permanent resident status.” Miller’s letter asks the bureau to go a step further and drop green card holders from the count as well, according to her office.

Who signed on

Cosigners listed in Miller’s release include Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Andy Harris of Maryland, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Brandon Gill of Texas, among others. The release says the effort is backed by Heritage Action, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA and the Immigration Accountability Project.

The House Freedom Caucus amplified the push on X, saying Miller “leads 44 lawmakers” in demanding a citizens-only apportionment count. Effingham, Illinois, station XFM also reported the letter.

Why it matters

The census count decides how many House seats, and how many Electoral College votes, each state receives for the next decade. Supporters of the change argue that counting large noncitizen populations shifts political power toward states that have attracted the most illegal immigration. Opponents, including the demographers at the University of Washington center, describe the proposed changes as “extraordinary and unprecedented” and have urged the public to weigh in before the deadline.

Any final rule would come after the bureau reviews the comments. Changes to who is counted for apportionment would be likely to face legal challenges, since the Constitution directs that House seats be divided according to the number of persons in each state.

Sources

• Rep. Mary Miller press release (Oct. 30, 2026)
• Federal Register: Census Bureau comment-period extension
• University of Washington CSDE summary of the proposed rule
• XFM Effingham report
• Rep. Mary Miller on X
• House Freedom Caucus on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.