Should the Undocumented be Counted as Legitimate Residents in a State? Much is On the Line

The number of residents in a state determines the number of congressional representatives for each state and how much federal money it gets in some cases.

President Trump wants to use census data that would not include any illegal immigrants to help determine those things. The U.S. Supreme Court held a hearing Monday about whether Trump can or should do that.

Some say illegal or undocumented immigrants should be counted - as they always have been - since they do actually live here.

New York's Solicitor General Barbara Underwood argued before the justices, "The government can do many things to induce undocumented immigrants to leave, but it cannot declare them to be gone when in fact they are here and likely to remain."

U.S. Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall argued that's just not logical.

He stated, "Treating someone apprehended on the border on March 31st or scheduled to be removed on April 2nd as a 'usual' or 'settled' resident of the United States on April 1st flies in the face of this Court's cases, common sense, and any sound theory of political representation."

Political representation? Wall's opponents countered that the census properly representing everyone in a state is what this case is all about.

"The difference of a few thousand people in a state can mean the difference between gaining or losing a seat," said the ACLU's Dale Ho, representing undocumented plaintiffs.