Istook to co-sponsor illegal alien census bill

Thursday, June 16th 2005, 6:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Oklahoma Congressman Ernest Istook plans to co-sponsor a proposed constitutional amendment that would count only U.S. citizens when apportioning congressional seats.

Istook says that if the amendment had been in place in 2000, Oklahoma would not have lost one of its six U.S. House seats.

Under the proposal, illegal aliens and those who haven't completed the naturalization process would not be counted in the apportionment of the 435 U.S. House seats.

The Congressional Research Service says if it had been in effect for the 2000 Census, the plan would have shifted how nine House seats were apportioned.

California would have six fewer seats, while New York, Florida and Texas would have one fewer. Oklahoma and eight other states would have one additional seat.