Republicans press to add citizenship question to Census forms

Miami Herald
By WILLIAM DOUGLAS
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Immigration, an issue placed on the congressional backburner by attempts to revamp the nation's health care system, is percolating again as Republican lawmakers are pushing a measure that would require U.S. Census forms to include a question about the citizenship status of respondents.

An amendment by Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and Bob Bennett, R-Utah, to freeze Census Bureau funds if it doesn't add the citizenship question to more than 425 million forms before the once-a-decade count begins in April has divided Latino groups, as well as some opponents of comprehensive immigration legislation.

Vitter calls his amendment - which he hopes to attach to a Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill - necessary to try to exclude illegal immigrants from the census count so their numbers won't affect congressional apportionment or legislative redistricting, which is based on population.

"If the current census plan goes ahead, the inclusion of non-citizens towards apportionment will artificially increase the population count in certain states, and that will likely result in the loss of congressional seats for nine other states, including Louisiana," Vitter said last week.

Several civil rights groups, however, say Vitter's amendment is a naked attempt to rouse anti-immigrant sentiments as next year's mid-term elections approach.

"Vitter is tapping into public resentment over illegal immigration," Wade Henderson, the president of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights, said this week. "There are some members (of Congress) who are susceptible to that siren song."

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials called the amendment a deliberate attempt to suppress Latino census numbers.

"By making intrusive inquiries into immigration status, the Vitter-Bennett amendment would raise concerns among all residents - both native-born and immigrant - about the confidentiality and privacy of information provided to the Census Bureau," the organization's education fund said in a written statement.

"This would deter participation in the census count, particularly among Latino residents, which we believe is the ultimate goal of the amendments proponents."

Civil rights and Latino groups and have been pressuring lawmakers this week to try to scuttle the amendment, which doesn't appear to have much support from Democrats.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., the chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security, called the measure "problematic."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus are expected to denounce the amendment at a news conference Thursday.

Eight former census directors from Republican and Democratic presidential administrations released a letter last week blasting Vitter's amendment, saying that adding a question at this point could delay the decennial enumeration and add to the $7 billion already spent on the survey.

"The effect on data quality is completely unknown, as are the consequences for participation among all immigrants, regardless of their legal status," the former Census directors wrote.

"We could foresee, for example, problems during door-to-door visits unresponsive households, when a legalized 'head of household' would avoid enumerators because one or more other household members are present unlawfully."

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