Halt to Gov’t Raids Not an Option to Boost Census

More news stories on Immigration Law Enforcement

Hope Yen, Contra Costa Times (California), October 1, 2009

With the 2010 census six months away, the Commerce Department said Thursday it won’t seek a halt to immigration raids as it did in the previous census in hopes of improving participation in hard-to-count communities.

In a statement, the department said it is committed to an accurate count of U.S. residents, including both legal and illegal immigrants. Spokesman Nick Kimball said officials will not ask the Homeland Security Department to stop large-scale immigration raids during the high stakes count that begins April 1.

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It remained unclear what Commerce’s stance might have on the likelihood of immigration raids next year. In recent months, the government has said it was seeking to shift enforcement efforts more toward criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants as well as cases in which an illegal immigrant may pose a safety threat to the community.

The Commerce statement comes as the Census Bureau enters the final stretch of preparations for the decennial count, which is used to apportion House seats and distribute nearly $450 billion in federal aid. With an effort to overhaul U.S. immigration laws expected to take place sometime next year, Census Director Robert Groves has said he’s particularly worried that tensions over immigration will deter people from participating in the count.

Rev. Miguel Rivera, chairman of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, has been urging Hispanics to boycott the census until there is action on an immigration overhaul.

On Thursday, a coalition of Latino groups, including Univision and the National Coalition, announced a grass-roots campaign to boost participation in their communities and to resist calls to boycott the census. The groups said that getting an accurate count of the fast-growing Latino community is the best way to push change.

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Original article

(Posted on October 8, 2009)

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Comments

1 — sbuffalonative wrote at 7:50 PM on October 8:

Purely linking population to money for states has always seemed like a bad idea.

All it appears to do is force states to add people for the single purpose of claiming more money.

But it seems self-defeating. More people means more money but it requires more government output.

It’s like drinking salt water when you’re thirsty. We all know what the end result is.

2 — 9mmMax wrote at 9:58 PM on October 8:

Having significant numbers of illegal aliens (not yada, yada, yada migrants) mixed in with the citizens and registered visitors is similar to having termites in the structural members of your house. In both the civil society and the house the integrity of the structure is fundamentally compromised by the presence of incompatible, alien material. We can’t perpetually modify the society to accommodate shadowy aliens and their lifestyles any more than we can put posts in the middle of the kitchen to support the ceiling weakened by termites.
We must control the borders and then repatriate those here without permission, then we can debate annually the appropriate sources and levels of legal immigration.

3 — RHG wrote at 11:09 PM on October 8:

This is very simple, people who shouldn’t be here in the first place should not be counted or represented in any way, shape or form.

4 — NBJ wrote at 4:01 PM on October 9:

Oh yes, by all means come out and be counted. This way we can get rid of this 12 million number they have repeated for years. We can see once and for all it’s more like 25 to 30 million illegals here. Besides, the government won’t deport you, they seem not to care as you well know.

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