Census: Big Brother Anxieties Could Hurt Count
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AP, October 2, 2008
Fear of the government in some communities after the Sept. 11 attacks and years of debate over immigration policy could create problems in getting an accurate count of the U.S. population in 2010, the director of the Census Bureau said Thursday.
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To combat people’s hesitancy, the bureau will work with local governments and organizations such as churches and community groups to make sure people understand what the census is and that the data won’t be shared, Murdock said.
Participation in the nation’s count every 10 years is required, but no one has been prosecuted for refusing to respond. Getting an accurate count of everyone who lives in the country is vital because it determines how congressional seats are apportioned and how federal funds are given out, among other things.
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Some people, like those in the country illegally, could hesitate to respond to any kind of government query, especially in an atmosphere in which the debate over immigration is extremely heated.
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“Whatever the live controversies are, they will hit the census,” [Margo Anderson, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee] said. “What we’re going to hit now is the immigration debate and the debate on the war on terror. They need to figure out a way to reassure ordinary people—immigrant or not, legal or not—that it’s OK to fill out a census form.”
(Posted on October 6, 2008)
Comments
If illegals ARE counted, I think people are going to get a real shock when the figure 25 million rolls in.
Posted by at 5:43 PM on October 6
I would love to know how many illegal aliens are in this country, but for the purpose of deporting them, not for giving them representation in Congress!
Posted by Greg Johnson at 10:00 PM on October 6
Why should aliens of any legal status count for representation? How is it that aliens have been determined to warrant or deserve representation in a government of what is to them an alien land? Do Americans residing in Mexico have political representation?
Posted by Cassiodorus at 11:11 PM on October 6
The illegals will hide in the shadows and the workplace where they maintain control over entire industries in the SouthWest that young people, uneducated adults, and increasingly educated adults need desperate access to!
Do not stop writing your elected representatives and reminding them that:
1. The United States Must Secure Its Borders.
2. We Must Hold Employers Accountable For The Workers They Hire. No Temporary Worker Program is needed. We have tens of millions of able bodied citizens in this country living below the poverty line and the magnet of jobs and free social care must end for non-citizens.
3. We Must Bring Undocumented Workers Already In The Country Out Of The Shadows… and send them home.
4. We Must Promote Assimilation Into Our Society By Teaching New Immigrants English And American Values.
5. End Chain Migration and Restore Legal Immigration Levels to Conservative Norms..
Finally, won’t you consider joining Numbers USA at http://www.numbersusa.com/ and taking the time to help save our nation? It’s worth it. I promise.
Posted by Unemployed WASP at 10:34 AM on October 7
It’s time to stop STUPID!
Posted by Trisket at 12:47 PM on October 7
anonymous first poster wrote: “25 million”
I would even go as high as 35 million. I travel a lot in the Pacific NW, and I see Mexicans in virtually every small town I visit.
Posted by at 1:25 PM on October 7
Even though we decry counting illegals for approtionment - why should people here illegally get representation in congress? - we can’t really even grasp it.
How big is the problem? The typical Illinois district had over 160,000. Some saw well over 200,000 votes cast. But Rep. Luis Gutierrez, La Raza’s point man in the House, had all of 79,810 votes cast in his district. That’s right - barely half of the next lowest district in Illinois - left-wing Rahm Emanuel, who had 142,000 votes cast in his. See here: http://www.cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/IL/
These are people who aren’t citizens, a great number of whom are here illegally, getting represntation in our Congress.
And Gutierrez’s district isn’t even the worst. In New York, Nydia Velazquez and Jose Serrano only had about 62,000 and 53,000 votes cast in their respective districts.
Posted by Alan at 12:03 PM on October 8
They shouldn’t be represented; they’re are here illegally.
Posted by at 9:15 PM on October 8