2010 Census Count and the Undocumented Immigrant
Monday, February 22, 2010
Jerry Erickson
As the 2010 Census gets under way, there is a lot of pressure on the government to make sure that the count is accurate. As always, there is a bit of controversy in the process. This year the issue concerns the participation of undocumented immigrants in the process. Moreover, the anxiety among immigrants is one of the biggest obstacles facing the Census Bureau this year. Persuading those residents who are most anxious about dealing with the government to participate in the census count will be no easy task.
Immigration can present a number of hot-button issues on any given day. The U.S. census, and who should be allowed to participate in the 2010 count, pits those on either side of immigration issues against each other yet again. Those who typically are cast as pro-immigration, urge U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to stop making raids while the census is taking place. Their rationale is that a halt in raids will help ensure that everyone will participate in the census process and be counted. Those opposed to the efforts by pro-immigration advocates argue that undocumented immigrants should not be counted in the census.
In terms of background, the United States Census is a decennial census mandated by the Constitution. The results are important because once the population is counted, the results are used to allocate congressional seats and electoral votes, as well as government program funding. As you can imagine, the stakes are pretty high to makes sure that the count is accurate, especially in those areas with a concentration of undocumented immigrants.
The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 under Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Like then, the purpose in taking censuses is still to obtain reliable statistical information about our U.S. population. Information is obtained from participants in the census to enable the compilation of the information into statistics that can be analyzed and evaluated.
It has always been clear that the participation and information provided to a census are intended to remain confidential. Information gathered cannot be disclosed by census takers, any other Census Bureau employee or any member of the government. Revealing identifiable information about any person, household or business is simply not permissible. The reason for preventing disclosure is simple. If these protections didn't exist, it is a safe assumption that some persons living in the U.S., legally or not, might be deterred from providing the needed census data.
U.S. Census Bureau Director, Robert Groves, recently emerged from a caravan in Texas earlier this month when visiting Laredo. He told the local residents, which include hundreds of illegal immigrants, "You can trust us. If the president asked me for your census form, I can say 'No, you can't get it.' If I violate that law, I can go to prison."
From a public policy view, the stated goal in gathering census information is to obtain a realistic snapshot of American society every 10 years. The stakes are obviously very high. An accurate head count in the 2010 census could mean millions more in federal dollars for a community or the redrawing of legislative boundaries. Undercounting could leave deserving states and communities out in the cold … so to speak.
It seems to me that counting everyone living in the U.S. just makes good sense, even undocumented immigrants. The current unofficial count by DHS is that there are upwards of 10.8 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Making sure that an accurate count is obtained will allow those impacted communities to receive adequate and proper levels of funding to provide for local needs. Whether we're talking about resources for more hospitals, health clinics, schools, or traffic planning, an accurate picture of each community and its residents is needed. Without an accurate assessment of each community, areas in need of funding may receive insufficient federal grant money, or risk losing funding simply because the number of residents within a community is underreported.