La. may lose seat in census counts illegal aliens in U.S.
By Robert Morgan • rmorgan@thetowntalk.com • September 9, 2009

Next year's census will include counting illegal aliens among the total residents of the United States, a U.S. Census Bureau employee said.



Pam Danos, manager of the Lafayette field office for the Census Bureau, said, "One of the reasons we're counting people who are not citizens is they use our highways, they use our schools and other services."

But Elliott Stonecipher of Shreveport, a pollster and demographic analyst, said counting illegal residents the same as citizens makes the concept of representative government pointless.

Being able to elect someone to Congress to represent your views was a right of citizenship, and now it "doesn't even mean that," Stonecipher said.

As a result of several factors, including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a sluggish economy and lack of opportunities, Louisiana has lost population since the 2000 census.

"Our population estimate as of the latest estimate was 4,410,796, the same as in the spring of 1985," Stonecipher said.

He added, "We think West Virginia and North Dakota are in a struggle with us as to who will be 50th (in population growth)."

By all accounts, the population loss is expected to cost Louisiana one of its seven congressional seats.

Stonecipher blamed the loss partially on including illegal immigrants in the official count equally with citizens around the nation.

"If you backed (illegals) out, I don't think we'd lose our seat in Congress," he said.

Danos said, "I know we will have a shift in population because of the hurricanes situation. We don't know if it will be inside the state or outside of the state."

"There's is no question that there's going to be a big shift," Stonecipher said.

A large number of people have moved from Orleans Parish to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, he said.

"The northern and northeast part of the state have been the population losers," he said.

That will mean what is now the 5th Congressional District will have to expand to take in more people, he said, adding, "You know what's going to happen with that congressional district ... up in the air."

But he said, "Bob Kostelkas (Republican state senator from Monroe) has set the rule here. He has said Monroe will keep a member of Congress. He is chairman of Senate and Governmental Affairs, the committee that will be in charge of drawing those districts."

Stonecipher said the district could be expanded more to the west or it could expand to the south.

"My best guess is Rapides will stay in the 5th," he said.

Danos said the count will not start until the first of the year and must be completed by April 1, 2010.

"We're focused on getting the count right," she said.

As for applications of the numbers and the significance of benchmarks, she offered no observations, saying, "Our job is to do the count."

Census officials said the agency will begin hiring workers "in the next month or so" to be trained to do the actual count.

Pay for individuals will vary from about $9 to $14 per hour, Danos said, depending upon what position they are hired to fill.

For information on jobs related to the 2010 Census, visit www.census.gov/ and click on "Jobs@Census."



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