Thread: Counting the Undocumented in Census

Pres. Obama suggested that conservatives try to "broaden their reading" to things like "the Huffington Post", so we hope he and his Administration took notice of this post there.

Leah Durant
Executive director, Progressives for Immigration Reform

Posted: June 23, 2010 11:20 AM

Counting the Undocumented in Census

The 2010 Census count is winding towards an end this summer but we will not get an understanding of its impact on the political structure of Washington until December 31. The mail-in response portion of the census has been fairly successful according to Census Bureau experts as it generated a 72% response rate, the same rate that the 2000 Census generated. The personal interview portion of the census is now in full swing, as temporary workers visit non-responsive households and ask 10 simple questions concerning ethnicity, age, and family size.

One question that has unfortunately been omitted from the questionnaire is citizenship status. Last fall, Republican Sens. Bob Bennett of Utah and David Vitter of Louisiana proposed an amendment requiring that the census include a question on citizenship, a move aimed at removing undocumented immigrants from the count. The Senate rejected their amendment, but Bennett vowed to keep pushing for it in future censuses "so we can fairly determine congressional representation and ensure that legal residents are equally represented."

The failure to distinguish legal residents from illegal immigrants has caused the apportionment of House seats to skew unfairly. The distribution of House seats is based on population, with 650,000 residents per House seat. If states with large undocumented populations like California were not allowed to count these populations, they would lose a significant number of House seats to states that had a higher ratio of citizens to undocumented immigrants. California, for example, would lose 5 House seats if its 3 to 5 million undocumented residents were not counted in the population.

Furthermore, many states that are projected to lose a seat when the Census statistics are completely tabulated would in fact not lose a seat in Congress if illegal residents were not counted in the overall tally. Some think tanks estimate that if the undocumented were left out in 2010, California, Texas, Arizona and Florida would all lose seats while Midwestern states such as Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Missouri would gain.

Latino advocates are divided over the question of whether legal status within the Census questionnaire should be asked. The Rev. Miguel Rivera, leader of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, which represents 20,000 churches in 34 states, has urged undocumented immigrants to boycott the census to protest Congress' failure to overhaul
immigration laws. Other advocates within the Latino community are highly critical of Rivera's suggestion, believing that under-counting the immigrant population will cause some communities to lose millions of dollars of federal funds.

While no solid estimates are available, it is highly likely that large percentages of the undocumented population will not participate in the census due to the scrutiny they have been receiving in states like Arizona. Having solid estimates of this population would provide academics and government officials with valuable information as they continue to grapple with the nation's immigration crisis. This incomplete census format is diluting the voting power of millions of American citizens. Unfortunately, excluding the undocumented from census tallies could require a Constitutional Amendment and many weak-kneed Congressmen would rather stall and sidestep than tackle such a controversial issue.

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Progressive For Immigration Reform - Not What You Think
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-155347.html