Posted on 01/19/2007 6:10:16 AM PST by GQuagmire
Bay State officials seeking to save a coveted congressional seat are turning for help to residents who can’t even vote: illegal immigrants.
A census of the often-maligned underground residents - who face constant calls for their deportation - could be critical to reaching a population total that could preserve the seat.
“We need to chase them,” Secretary of State William Galvin said yesterday, stressing the need for an “all local” hunt for everyone living here.
Crucial to the census success: Convincing the estimated 150,000 to 200,000 illegal immigrants that they will simply be counted, not arrested.
“This is for real. A congressional seat is on the line,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.
A high cost of living is driving younger residents out of the Bay State, which lags dramatically behind states in the South and the West in population growth. Massachusetts could lose one of its 10 seats in the U.S. House, as well as political clout and millions of dollars in federal funds appropriated by congressional district.
“The money to fund many important federal programs is distributed to the states on the basis of population, so everyone in Massachusetts has a major stake in ensuring that we are not shortchanged by failing to get an accurate population count,” warned U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Malden), the senior member of the state’s congressional delegation.
The next U.S. Census kicks off in about three years. The state’s current population is slightly more than 6.5 million.
A Census immigrant expert who this week is visiting Framingham, where there is a large Brazilian community, vowed the Census questionnaire will reach everybody using the latest street lists and even global-positioning systems.
“We take our responsibility very seriously,” said Cesar Monzon, a Boston Census Bureau specialist.
Monzon said Census officials struggle to track down foreign-born men age 18 to 44 and their children, even though the Census demands they be counted.
Kathleen Ludgate, executive director of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Boston region, said yesterday her office is out earlier to solve the immigrant puzzle in time for the 2010 count.
“We’re working with all communities to get the most accurate count we can,” she said.
Galvin said Cambodians in Lowell, Russians in Westfield, Brazilians in Framingham and Latinos in Lawrence are all target groups. He added college students must be counted, too
I was thinking the same thing, but I am sure that when it comes to counting an illegal alien, Massachusetts wants the whole oaf.
Is there a ping for Massachusetts corruption? I'm from New Jersey, so I am something of an expert on state corruption. Massachusetts, Louisiana, and New Jersey are the big three of state corruption, but they have rising competition from New York, Connecticut, the ever-ambitious Maryland, long-tiem champ Pennsylvania ... hey, what ever happened to honest state politics? It seems to be a thing of the past, or maybe just a myth.
America land of the not so free, unless you are an illegal, and then boys and girls if you are illegal, do we have freedom for you.....it's all them, no account useless citizens we are going to tax, we just need to count those of you here illegally so we can plug in the numbers to the equations whereby we can collect more money from these no account useless citizens.
Is this the 'real' game day plan?
Is there a ping for Massachusetts corruption?
Get on the Howie Carr ping.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769624/posts
Just another reason it is foolish to send your money to Washington and expect to get it back.
I'm sorry, but would someone please point out where in the US Constitution it says that illegal aliens are entitled to congressional representation at the expense of proportional representation for (legal) Americans?
If Massachusetts counts illegals, so will other states and Massachusetts will gain nothing. They could only gain if Massachusetts counted illegals and no one else did. This is an anti-Democratic idea to undermine the fairness of the political system.
Is this still governed by Amendment XIV section 2, or has it been superceded by anything?
Amendment XIV sect 2
at http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am14.html states:
2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Surely the Founding Fathers didn't intend the count to include people here illegally, here as tourists, business travellers, people on student visas...Can what these MA politicians propose be legal?
No wonder congress wants to take away freedom of speech.
The citizens are more intelligent than the congress persons, and
congress can't stand the competition on their version of the truth.
Look for big trouble as more of the truth comes to the surface. Annie - Get Your Gun.
How is it that young people can't afford to live there, but illegals can?
Easy, Illegals live in Illegal apartments. One of our Dept. Chiefs told me that on several calls to house fires they were faced with particle board cubicles with 50 or more people living in what is supposed to be a two family house. Those "residents" did not stick around when the fire dept arrived.
An illegal immigrant is nothing more than a visitor. We do not count visitors in the census. We should change the Constitution so that only citizens of the United States are counted toward congressional representation.
I wonder if Antebellum slaves had better housing.
We all knew this was coming but it still doesn't make it any less INSANE!
You forgot to add New Mexico to your list...Bill Richardson's dem buddies running the state government must hold some kind of record for corruption.
Let's see. I think there's several Federal laws forbidding them from entering the US illegally and several more that prevent them from voting, but that hasn't seemed to stop those activities.
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