Posted on 07/03/2009 6:34:36 AM PDT by Liberty Valance
The year 2010 is about money and power.
In the Rio Grande Valley, local officials are focusing their efforts on ensuring tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants are included in the count.
The census seeks to count not just citizens but residents. With big money and political clout both depending on those numbers, governments are hoping that not a single person falls through the cracks.
For local governments, the stakes are high.
Census data are used to help make decisions about how the federal government distributes $300 billion to state and local governments for schools, senior programs, libraries, infrastructure and community programs.
The data are also used to help determine whether states gain or lose congressional seats.
Texas could gain three or four seats in the U.S. House based on current population projections, said Rolando Rios, an attorney working on census issues for the city of McAllen, Hidalgo County and South Texas College.
McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez, who chair's the city's census committee, said being counted in the census is a basic right, like voting.
"This is the way we assure ourselves of representation," he said. "It's one of the principles this country is based on."
He said his city views the census as so critical that, over the next year, city employees working on the census committee will treat those duties just as importantly as their day-to-day jobs.
Officials will make a special push to preach their message about the importance of the census to colonia residents, migrant workers and undocumented immigrants, who are especially at risk for being undercounted.
For every person undercounted in a census, the local government stands to lose $2,500 over the course of 10 years, Rios said.
Juanita Valdez-Cox, executive director of La Union del Pueblo Entero, an immigrant advocacy group based in San Juan, said some undocumented immigrants are skeptical of completing the survey.
Some simply don't see the point, since they are ineligible for many government services. Others fear their information will be shared with immigration authorities — even though federal law specifically prohibits that practice.
"The core message we're getting out to all the residents right now is that it's safe," said Felicia Ramirez, partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau. "All the information is kept confidential, within the bureau."
But one group, the evangelical National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, is urging undocumented immigrants to boycott the survey.
"We're exploiting these people," the Rev. Ben Piña, an Edinburg-based officer in that organization, said last month. The government's attitude, he said, is "Let's count them, get all the benefits, and the sooner we can get them out of our country the better."
Valdez-Cox said even though undocumented immigrants aren't eligible for many government services, they still benefit from schools, roads and clinics. A more accurate population count helps ensure services like those get the funding they need.
And she also tries to convey the message that if the count in South Texas is high enough, it could help the area get another congressman, which would ensure better representation of the region's interests.
Local governments are piggy-backing on community events like festivals and holiday celebrations and using them as an opportunity to distribute information about the census.
They're also promoting the survey at schools, in hopes that children will become interested in the census and take that message home to their parents.
Meanwhile, local governments are providing some logistical support for the census.
For example, McAllen's planning department has been sharing up-to-date maps of new annexations and subdivisions so the Census Bureau knows where to mail forms and knock on doors, said Juli Rankin, the city's planning director.
McAllen leaders even plan to have a census-themed float in the city's Fourth of July parade Saturday.
*border census ping*
I swear to God that people like this are going to spark a torch and pitchfork crowd. ALL of these damned politicians would sell their daughters, let alone their nation, for money and power.
Easier to round ‘em up if you know where they live.
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