Exclusive — Sen. Bill Hagerty: Democrats Counting Illegals in Census ‘All About Power’

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) speaks on border security and Title 42 during a press conference
Kevin Dietsch/Getty

Democrats counting illegal immigrants in the U.S. census is “all about power,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday, detailing the real reasons why the left is allowing the southern border to run amok.

Earlier his year, Hagerty and his colleagues pushed an amendment that would have barred illegal aliens from being included in the count that determines the census, which affects how many congressional districts each state has. They were trying to fix a problem former President Barack Obama expanded upon, he continued, as the former president took away the question on the census of whether or not a person is an American citizen.

“Many people have asked themselves, ‘What’s the motive behind the crime that’s occurring at our southern border?'” he said, noting that “some 10 million people” have come into the country since Biden has taken office.

EAGLE PASS, TEXAS - DECEMBER 20: Immigrants wait to be processed at a U.S. Border Patrol transit center after they crossed the border from Mexico on December 20, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. A late-year surge of migrants crossing the U.S.southern border has overwhelmed U.S. immigration officials. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

EAGLE PASS, TEXAS – DECEMBER 20: Immigrants wait to be processed at a U.S. Border Patrol transit center after they crossed the border from Mexico on December 20, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty)

“Why are they doing this carnage, fentanyl coming in? You’ve seen all the crime in the cities. We can’t handle this. Why would they do this? And the motive is clear when you realize that every single Democrat — every single senator — voted to block the legislation I put forward that would prohibit the counting of illegal migrants, illegal aliens, in the apportionment of congressional seats and electoral votes,” he said, concluding that it is “all about power.”

“That’s the motive behind all of this. It’s all about power. And if you think about where we’ve got big states that are losing population rapidly, big blue states like New York, Illinois, California, where have they situated the sanctuary cities, Matt? Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Manhattan. That’s where the sanctuary cities are located,” Hagerty continued, noting that some Democrat lawmakers have admitted this.

“I think with respect to counting illegal aliens in the census proportioning congressional districts, most Americans just don’t believe that. That could be true. But it is, and that’s what’s been happening and that is exactly the motive behind all of this that’s happening in our border right now — the carnage, the chaos, the willingness to see our children dying from fentanyl deaths is because of this quest for power and their desire not to lose congressional seats to red states,” he said, adding greater perspective to this issue.

A pamphlet with 2020 census information written in Spanish is included in a box of food to be distributed by the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to people facing economic or food insecurity amid the COVID-19 pandemic on August 6, 2020, in Paramount, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“And if you look at the number of people that have come in, Matt, just the 10 million that have come in under Joe Biden, that would be 13 congressional districts in and of themselves. You think about the balance of power right now in the U.S. Congress, single digits. This is very, very clear what they’re doing,” he said, emphasizing it is all about “power.”

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“If it weren’t for this counting of illegal aliens, Tennessee would have another congressional seat. Many of the red states would because people are voting with their feet and they’re getting out of these blue states. And this is all about power for the Democrats,” Hagerty said. “That’s why they all voted” against a measure that would block taxpayer funds from being used to “support the flying in of illegal aliens into our country — deep into our country.”

“Not even going to Border Patrol,” Hagerty said, adding, “flying into our country into an airport near you or me and frankly, backfilling these blue cities.”

“We’ve got to stop counting these people,” the senator added. “And when we do that, we will have removed the motive for the Democrats to do what they’ve done to us at the border.”

Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

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