Illegal immigration is draining red states like Alabama — with a small illegal alien population — of their congressional representation, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) says.

During testimony at a House Oversight and Reform Committee this week, Brooks said asking United States residents on the upcoming 2020 Census is necessary to know the number of illegal aliens living in the country and to ensure that congressional districts are drawn based on the number of American citizens, rather than entire populations, including citizens, noncitizens, and illegal aliens.

“I submit the inclusion of the citizenship question on the next census is not only common sense, it is a Constitutionally required,” Brooks said.

After the 2010 Census, illegal aliens were counted for reapportioning Congressional districts and electoral college votes. Hence, states that had fewer illegal aliens saw a shift of their political power to states that had more illegal aliens. [Emphasis added] Law-abiding states lost not only Congressional representation in Congress, they also lost electoral college votes that elect the president of the United States. I submit the citizenship power of citizens in low illegal alien count states was diluted as their Congressional seats and electoral college representation was disproportionately cut. [Emphasis added] Similarly, the counting of illegal aliens for reapportionment of political power purposes violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause by unconstitutionally diluting the representative and political power of citizens who live in low illegal alien population states. [Emphasis added]

As Breitbart News has reported, the counting of only American citizens to divide up congressional districts and electoral college votes would shift power away from the affluent, metropolitan coastal cities of the U.S. and towards middle America.

If congressional districts were set by the number of citizens, the overall average population needed per congressional seat could decrease to about 670,000 citizens per district. This would give a stronger advantage for states with small illegal alien populations to gain and keep their current number of congressional seats.

Counting Illegal Aliens in Congressional Districts Will Strip Red States of Representationhttps://t.co/B5yK3bpraU — John Binder 👽 (@JxhnBinder) September 11, 2018

For instance, if by only counting citizens, a state like Ohio, with few illegal aliens, could possibly gain a congressional seat, increasing the state’s total number of representatives to 17. Current projections suggest Ohio will lose a congressional seat.

In West Virginia, which is also slated to lose a congressional seat, the state could keep their three districts if the redistricting is counted by citizens. Indiana, as well, — with less than 180,000 noncitizen residents — would potentially increase its congressional seats from nine to ten if apportionment is based on the number of citizens in the state.

On the other hand, deep blue states with affluent coastal cities are set to make major gains in terms of congressional representation. California has an estimated three million illegal aliens, a total of about 5.3 million noncitizens, and a total population of about 39.5 million residents. Currently, California has 53 congressional seats, the most in the country.

If California’s congressional districts were set by the number of citizens in the state, it would potentially lose three to five congressional seats, leaving the state with about 48 to 50 seats.

“Congressional districts with lower percentages of citizens — because of higher illegal alien concentrations — grant their citizens an unequal representative power when compared to citizens in districts with higher percentages of citizens and lower percentages of illegal aliens,” Brooks said.

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming months the constitutionality of asking American residents their citizenship status on the 2020 Census.

Currently, the U.S. admits more than 1.5 million legal and illegal immigrants every year, with more than 70 percent coming to the country through the process known as “chain migration,” whereby newly naturalized citizens can bring an unlimited number of foreign relatives to the U.S. In the next 20 years, the current U.S. legal immigration system is on track to import roughly 15 million new foreign born voters. Between seven and eight million of those foreign born voters will arrive in the U.S. through chain migration.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.