Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway says the federal government could look completely different in the next 20 to 30 years if illegal migrants are kept out of the U.S. Census – depending on the outcome of her pending lawsuit against the Census Bureau and the ongoing debates about federal election regulations. 

Hanaway told Just the News, No Noise on Monday that if the lawsuit goes in her favor, and illegal immigrants are no longer counted in the United States’ census, about 14 congressional seats would move from liberal states to conservative states — and 14 electoral votes along with them.

The country’s population count, or census, conducted every 10 years, decides the number of congressional seats each state gets.

“It could make the difference for the next 20 or 30 years in who controls Congress and who controls the presidency,” Hanaway said.

She also argues the issue isn't just the number of congressional seats, it’s also the number of electoral votes, along with “hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding” that are brought into question." 

Additionally, one of the lawsuit’s arguments has to do with apportionment, which is the process of distributing legislative seats among administrative divisions. Even if undocumented immigrants aren’t voting, they’re counted in the census, which ultimately gives a state more representation, Hanaway said.

She also said she wouldn’t be surprised if the Trump administration pushed a regulation that bans counting illegal immigrants in the census, and wants to push for a court order regarding the issue because it needs to be binding.

“In his first administration, President Trump tried to stop this terrible practice,” Hanaway said. “Along came Joe Biden — he reversed it almost immediately.”

Regarding Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that upheld Mississippi law allowing grace periods for mail-in ballots in federal elections, Hanaway said she’s concerned that the amount of time is extended where “illegal, fraudulent conduct could happen.”

While Hanaway wants military men and women to be able to vote via absentee ballots, she doesn’t want to “open a window” for certain people to continue mailing in ballots that could impact an election's outcome – especially when they have access to preliminary data. This data, she said, provides people with information regarding "how and where they need to manipulate the vote."

Katherine Pugh is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.