Census Counting Controversey: Should Illegal Immigrants Be I

Census Counting Controversey: Should Illegal Immigrants Be Included?

Updated: Wednesday, 17 Mar 2010, 10:02 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 17 Mar 2010, 9:30 PM CDT

By Anna Davlantes, FOX Chicago News

Chicago - The U.S. census form should have arrived in your mail this week.

By law everybody is supposed to fill it out, but some people argue not everybody should be counted.

A growing number of critics claim the census should not take illegal immigrants into account.

They maintain with so much on the line, only U.S. citizens should be tallied. $400 billion are at stake from Uncle Sam.

The funding that goes to schools, hospitals, roads, social services and Medicaid is distributed proportionally by population.

It also means illegal immigrants are treated the same as U.S. citizens when it comes to dividing up the money.

The other prize at stake: How many seats go to each state in the U.S. House of Representatives.

If these projections are correct, the Midwest stands to lose while border states win.

Depending on whom you ask, either illegal immigrants shouldn't be counted or states like Illinois need to count on them more.

That's one reason why various organizations are trying to get the word out going door-to-door in Chicago’s Hispanic communities.

Legal or illegal, these people say for now their neighborhoods, their families and possibly their health all depend on a strong turnout.

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