Implications of immigration for apportionment

Around the time of the US decennial censuses, a renewed interest emerges in the method for apportioning the US House of Representatives. Various metho ds may show slight variations in illustrative apportionments, with biases f avoring less populous states, but the general pattern remains. Definition o f certain groups as included in the apportionment counts and coverage level s for selected groups have been debated in the judicial system, legal journ als, and government. Unauthorized residents, and, sometimes, lawful immigra nts, are often singled out for exclusion. The legal issues are complex, and illustrating the effects of these groups' inclusion is problematic due to poor measures, nationally and geographically. Using approximate distributio ns, these analyses suggest this next apportionment might differ slightly un der various scenarios such as ones excluding either recently entered unauth orized residents or all unauthorized residents. Allowing for net authorized immigration greater than official estimates for the 1990s might have some effect for large states.