A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies focuses on the impact of immigration on the coming reapportionment of seats in Congress. Every ten years, districts in the House of Representatives are redrawn to reflect changes in the population distribution in the country.

The study found that as many as thirteen seats will change hands by the next census as a result of immigration. This is a sizable proportion of the total of 31 seats expected to change hands in the 2000 election. The study specifically found the following:

- seven states will lose seats after the 2000 census because of immigration - Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin; Georgia and Kentucky would have gained a seat but for immigration

- six states lost a seat as a result of immigration in the 1980s - Louisiana, Michigan, Montana and Ohio lost a seat; Georgia and Kentucky failed to gain a seat they otherwise would have gained

- Most of the redistribution is due to legal immigration, not illegal immigration

The CIS, which normally advocates for more restrictive immigration policies, points to the study as an argument against immigration. According to the CIS, "Without a change in immigration policy, this redistribution will content indefinitely...Immigration distorts our democracy by taking away seats from states composed almost entirely of citizens to create new districts composed largely of non-citizen immigrants who cannot vote."

Representatives of immigration advocacy groups countered that non-citizen permanent residents are future voting Americans so it is legitimate to count them.

Jeanne Butterfield, Executive Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, stated that "The founding fathers decided on apportionment by population, not votes. Counting immigrants who live here, pay taxes and serve in the military ... in consistent with that principal."

Analysts expect the shift to benefit Democrats particularly since Republicans are more likely to be perceived as anti-immigrant.