It's possible that millions of 'temporary' migrants could impact congressional seating because of a change to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau said that it would include refugees and border releases in its population estimates. In a blog post made last week, they said it's database is now “compiled using U.S. federal administrative data” on the following: lawful permanent residents; visa issuances; international student enrollees; refugee admissions; and border releases.

According to census data, the United States has seen a net of 2.8 million people migrate here between 2023 and 2024. Based on Census Bureau estimates, a few key Republican states would benefit from it's updated census data when it comes to congressional seats.

Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies Jessica Vaughan told KTRH News that the migrants in the U.S. temporarily can absolutely affect elections and representation in Congress.

"We've never had a period in our history with so much irregular migration in so short a time period," Vaughan said.

According to Vaughan, there have been about eight million newcomers to the U.S. under the Biden administration with most of them coming to the country illegally. There is likely to be noticeable change to congressional apportionment maps by 2030.

"They (migrants) are likely to affect the representation of the citizens in Congress," Vaughan explained. "Each congressional district is drawn up based on total population and that's everyone that lives in the district, not by how many voters."

The American Redistricting Project (ARP) forecasted 2030 map predicts that Texas and Florida will each gain four congressional seats while Idaho, Utah, and Arizona will each add one seat. California is projected to lose three seats and New York could lose two. At least six states are predicted to lose one seat including Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

People are leaving Democrat-led states by the hundreds of thousands. California is down 239,575 domestically, but it gained 361,057 internationally. New York lost 120,917 people domestically and gained 207,161 internationally. It's safe to say illegal immigration has offset the loss of population and congressional seats in blues states.

"California has several seats in Congress that they would not have except for the presence of illegal migrants," Vaughan said, who also noted that the same can be said of New York.

The makeup of Congress after 2030 will depend greatly on what happens to all of the illegal migrants that entered the country under President Biden. If they opt to stay in the U.S., that could skew some of the congressional districts in certain states.