Judges reject Trump plan to exclude many immigrants from representation

A panel of judges on Thursday declared unlawful a recent directive from President Donald Trump to exclude people who are in the United States illegally from representation when apportioning congressional seats.

The decision by a three-judge panel, which could be appealed to the US Supreme Court, is a victory for the 38 states, cities and counties, plus several immigrants rights nonprofits, that sued over Trump's July 21 directive.

Also Read: States urge halt to Donald Trump plan excluding millions of immigrants from representation

The mostly Democratic-leaning plaintiffs, led by New York state, accused Trump of having an "xenophobic" purpose in pushing a directive that reflected "discriminatory animus" toward Hispanics and other immigrant communities. They said the Republican president's directive violated the US Constitution's requirement to count the "whole number of persons in each state."

In its 86-page decision, the panel said federal law requires that one set of numbers be used to count the number of people in the country for purposes of the census and apportionment.

It said that so long as they resided in the United States, "illegal aliens qualify as 'persons in' a 'state'" who must be counted.