Illegal Immigration, the House of Representatives, and the Electoral College

I haven't seen this discussed anywhere else, so if there's more detailed analysis elsewhere please point me to it.

Despite the fact that illegal immigrants can't (legally) vote, they're still having a profound effect on our political institutions at this present time. Aside from the weeks of legislative time wasted on trying to find a solution to their rampant lawbreaking, illegal immigrants are also undermining two cornerstones of our republic: the House of Representatives and the Electoral College.

Even though illegal immigrants can't (legally) vote for Representatives or in Presidential elections, the apportionment of House seats -- and consequently electoral votes -- is based on a census of residents, not citizens. I expect that illegal immigrants are reluctant to be counted, but based on recent estimates there are around 20 million people living illegally in America right now; if the decennial census catches half of them, that's a 10 million person swing that would significantly increase the number of Representatives for whichever regions house the most illegal immigrants.

Here's an estimate of illegal immigrants by state based on the 2000 census. I won't vouch for the numbers or the methodology, but using these numbers and an average apportionment of one House seat per 650,000 people we can see that several states are benefiting now from illegal immigrants who can't even vote (legally) and are vastly undercounted.

California, New York, Texas, Illinois, and Florida all unquestionably won additional seats due to illegal immigration, and you'll note that the political effects are lopsided in favor of large states. I predict that a closer analysis would reveal another systemic effect: that illegal immigrant populations are concentrated in regions of these states that tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Extending this analysis to consider the demographics of the situation makes it obvious that illegal immigration isn't a small or transient problem but is presently undermining the structure and shape of our republic.