Posted on 05/30/2009 7:09:57 PM PDT by Steelfish
U.S. Census sparks feud over the counting of illegal immigrants
Teresa Watanabe May 31, 2009
In a high-stakes battle that could affect California's share of federal funding and political representation, immigrant activists are vowing to combat efforts by a national Latino clergy group to persuade 1 million illegal immigrants to boycott the 2010 U.S. Census.
The Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders, which says it represents 20,000 Latino churches in 34 states, recently announced that a quarter of its 4 million members were prepared to join the boycott as a way to intensify pressure for legalization and to protect themselves from government scrutiny.
"Before being counted, we need to be legalized," said the Rev. Miguel Rivera, the coalition's chairman and founder.
But the boycott call has infuriated many Latino organizations. La Opinión, in a recent editorial, denounced it as a "dangerous mistake" that "verges on political suicide" while an official with the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials called it "wildly irresponsible."
(snip)
The decennial Census, which counts all people regardless of immigration status, is used to allocate federal funds for education, housing, healthcare, transportation and other local needs. By some estimates, every person counted results in $1,000 in federal funds.
The Census is also used to apportion the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, which are based on a state's population.
According to a study in 2003, California's sizable illegal immigrant population allowed it to gain three House seats it might otherwise not have received. The state's illegal immigrant population also caused Indiana, Michigan and Mississippi to each lose one of their seats and prevented Montana from gaining a seat.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
So what’s the law on counting illegals? Does the census count everyone whether here legally or not? Does the census count people traveling and visiting this country on April 1, 2010? Do census reports make any distinction between citizens and others?
Especially with a group like ACORN involved, I expect that questions like I have will be swept under the rug. If they go ahead with plans to do statistical sampling to estimate the number of inhabitants, this could be the least accurate census count in history. You just know that they will over estimate just a bit here and there, in places like East LA and the South Side of Chicago, and under estimate just a bit in places like the creeks and hollows of West Virginia and Kentucky.
Counting illegals? They shouldn’t be here to begin with, they should be deported...end of story.
if i actually responded honestly to this comment, i'm quite sure that i would burn in an eternal fire.
It was the intent of the Framers to count all Persons, not just citizens.
Don’t worry. ACORN will handle the problem.
Illegals are not “Free”. They are, by their nature ILLEGAL, hiding and not a legal part of this country.
Illegal aleins are not entitled to representation in DC! That takes tax dollars away from hnest to goodness real Americans. How dare you all try to do this!
“Free” in the Constitution means a person who is not held in servitude and slaver is was banned in the U.S. all persons are Free as in not held in servitude.
Count them, geocode them, fingerprint them. They can be rounded up more easily.
1) Per the Constitution, as mentioned above, everyone resident is counted regardless of citizenship.
2) The Census does not count people just visiting the country - there are questions to establish whether someone has been here a set number of months or plans to be - forget how long. The Census doesn't count people in hotels.
3) The Census does ask whether a respondent is a U.S. Citizen; if not, it asks what country the person is a citizen of. Presumably all of that data is available.
4) The Census does not ask respondents if they are legally in the country, if they are not citizens.
I endorse the boycott!
Don’t count them then catch and deport them.
Robert Groves, Obamination’s pick to oversee the census, is a statistical sampling proponent. He pushed for it in 2000 but the GOP put a stop to it. He says he’s not going to use it but he’s from U of M and odds are high he’s a loyal libbie.
With ACORN and illegals now involved in the official gathering, there’s going to lots of no-so-funny business going on.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/15/groves-rules-use-sampling-census/
Illegals are also not taxed. They consume taxes. The few who actually produce more tax revenue than they consume could be countered as other persons (3/5th).
They should ask: Are you an American Citizen? Are you a Permanent Resident of the United States?
Let ‘em boycott. They shouldn’t be counted in the US Census, anyway. They should be deported, if they are here without a visa.
Why is such trouble to get the authorities to do their duty?
The Constitution is not specific with regard to counting illegal aliens. It will require a Court test to determine the issue.
Illegals should not be counted in the same way that foreign tourists present on April 1 are not counted. They are not legally here and resident in the country in the way that legal immigrants are.
It is truly a mark of how far we have fallen from plain common sense when you can have debates on and in many cases legal acceptance of such logically flawed issues as “gay marriage” and counting illegal aliens. We are entering a Dark Age.
The Constitution requires a count of people, not just citizens.
Maybe if regions with high illegal populations start really feeling the pain of trying to provide services for their total population based only on their legal population...they'll get serious about enforcing the laws. You cannot be selective and cherry pick which laws you enforce or do not enforce.
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