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A bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx requiring the Census to try to count illegal immigrants would only affect the Congressional districts of a few states.

In an e-mail message to Dome, Foxx spokesman Aaron Groen said Foxx is concerned with the rule of law and fairness.

"Our immigration laws should be respected and enforced and every vote should be of equal value," Groen said.

States with a high per capita number of illegal immigrants are over-represented in Congress. North Carolina has a high number of illegal immigrants, but it doesn't compare to the per capita numbers of states such as California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada and could have an unfair representation in Congress, Groen said.

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx has introduced a bill that would require the U.S. Census Bureau to count illegal immigrants.

Foxx's Fairness in Representation Act would require census takers to try to determine how many of the people living in the nation are illegal immigrants. Currently, the census does not distinguish between citizens or illegal immigrants, according to Foxx's office.

"Accurately counting the number of illegal immigrants in our country is a matter of equity and justice for American citizens and those legally present in the U.S.," Foxx said. "This bill is a commonsense proposal to require the Census Bureau to ask about citizenship status on the same census form that already asks recipients’ race, age, and sex."

The census is required by the U.S. Constitution to determine the apportionment of members of Congress.

A spokesman for Foxx said her legislation seeks to prevent unfair distortions in the distribution of House of Representative seats among the 50 states caused by large populations of illegal immigrants in certain areas.