RSS Feed MenuSix former Census Bureau directors united this week to oppose Sen. David Vitter’s (R-LA) proposal to add a question on citizenship and immigration status to the 2010 census.
In a letter released by Census Project, a group of census stakeholders, the former Census Bureau directors urged Congress not to adopt Vitter’s amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill, which would deny federal funds to the 2010 Census if it did not include questions regarding United States citizenship.
The former Census Bureau directors note in the letter that census questions are usually submitted two or three years before Census Day, and that a change to the questionnaire at this point would be impossible, writing that: “Such a massive revision could not be accomplished in time to conduct the census on its currently envisioned schedule…The resulting cost to the taxpayer is almost incalculable.”
Todd Zinser, the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Commerce, affirmed this last week in a Senate subcommittee hearing in which he said: “With address canvassing finished and enumeration activities soon to begin, little opportunity remains to affect the 2010 census or make major course corrections.”
Sen. Vitter proposed the amendment last week, a mere six months before Census Day on April 1, 2010. In a statement, the senator justified his proposal by saying that: “In the past, some states have included illegal immigrants during the census, resulting in the allocation of additional congressional seats… [this amendment] obviously won’t help us identify all illegal aliens, but it’s a step in the right direction. Illegal aliens should not be included for the purposes of determining representation in Congress, and that’s the bottom line here.”
Although no solid estimates could be made as to how much Sen. Vitter’s amendment would cost, the Census Project indicated that it could put the $7 billion that the Bureau has already spent at risk. Former Census Bureau director Kenneth Prewitt told NewMajority that “the questionnaires are already being printed as we speak.”
The proposal seems to have taken those familiar with the census by surprise. On October 6th, a day before Sen. Vitter tabled his amendment, Prewitt said in an interview with NewMajority that “there have been no major changes in the census in the last several months, and none anticipated.”
The SEIU, one of the United States’ most powerful unions, rallied members and supporters today in opposition to Sen. Vitter’s amendment. The union accused the senator and those supporting the amendment of being “willing to compromise the accuracy of the census in their obsessive desire to inject their anti-immigrant agenda into every conceivable realm of public life.”
When NewMajority asked SEIU why a union would get involved in census issues, Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina said: “SEIU has long been deeply committed to expanding the civic engagement and political participation of Latino and other immigrant communities… We cannot repeat the mistakes of the 2000 Census, which cost the Latino community billions in federal dollars because of an estimated 3 percent undercount of the population.”
Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, explained it differently, noting that “SEIU has been intimately involved in pushing amnesty and related [immigration] issues because their membership is so heavily illegal immigrant.”
This week’s census developments come after a Senate sub-committee hearing last week that revealed that the Census Bureau botched nearly 36,000 criminal background checks and was looking at close to $4 billion in cost-overruns.
Today, six days after the hearing, Census Bureau Director Dr. Robert Groves released a statement addressing the failed background checks, noting that fingerprint background checks had never been done by the Census Bureau before, and was an attempt to make the census safer than in any previous enumeration, Indeed, Dr. Groves noted that the Census Bureau’s “procedures to protect the public go further than required.”
With efforts being made to ensure that criminal background check failures are not repeated for the Census’s non-responsive follow-up canvassing, the Census Bureau must now turn its attention to the possibility that all their efforts heretofore may have been wasted if Senator Vitter’s amendment passes.
greg_barton // Oct 14, 2009 at 1:09 am
Ya’ll would just love it if Hispanics were under counted. You keep talking about how you want to expand the conservative base, then you pull this kind of thinly veiled racist crap.
But it gets better. Like you say in the article, it’s basically too late to change the questionnaire. So it’s only an ineffectual token gesture, transparently so, and obvious to all but the most naive that it was never meant to actually accomplish anything but political points.
spikeytx86 // Oct 14, 2009 at 1:43 am
I don’t see what’s racist about trying to get a gauge on how many people are here illegally? You could add a provision that any information obtained from the Census forms can not be used to deport or prosecute anyone. But I think it is an important vital statistic that our Government should know.
Now if the Census folks say these questions should have been submitted 2 or 3 years ago, that’s a fair argument and the cost and delay of adding this question should definitely be weighed. But it certainly is not “racist” to figure out how many people are here illegally.
And by the way, if you want to talk about racist how about you implying that Hispanics would be under counted because they are illegal? Most Hispanics are legal law abiding citizens my friend.
greg_barton // Oct 14, 2009 at 2:19 am
Oh, please explain how I was being racist. Hispanics who are born in the U.S. are deported! And it’s very common for Hispanics who are citizens to be questioned by ICE agents about whether they know or consort with illegals. So making census workers appear to be ICE agents would definitely cause them to be less effective in the Hispanic community. And do you really think anyone would believe a provision saying no information gathered would be used for deportation? Are you saying we should trust the all powerful government? Seriously?
spikeytx86 // Oct 14, 2009 at 2:54 am
I’m saying trust the law. If it’s made law (the form amnesty provision I suggested) it must be enforced. If it’s not take it up with the Obama administration.
As for Hispanic U.S. citizens being deported you are just lying now. All they would have to do is show proof of citizenship or legal residence here and nothing would happen to them.
You don’t just get thrown into a black s.u.v., whisked away to the border, and dumped. There are hearings and evidence must be shown.
“So making census workers appear to be ICE agents would definitely cause them to be less effective in the Hispanic community.”
LOL! First off if you fill out your census questionnaire you will never interact with a census worker. Only if you do not submit it or fail to complete it in full will a census worker pay you a visit. We are talking about one question out of dozens. The forms already ask detailed biographical information to begin with, it’s not like the census forms aren’t invasive or anything.
You are also missing the silver lining which may benefit your side. If the question is added and it shows that there are far less illegal immigrants here then originally thought it would take the wind right out of the sails of anti-immigration types.
As far as the racist thing, you through it out first, I can make a bogus claim just like you can. How about we just get it all out of the way, we already have racist down so why don’t you call me worse then hitler, I will call you a stalinist, and we can all end the night feeling better about the fact we have rendered serious accusations and words meaningless for the sake of cheap political theater and passing pot shots!
mlindroo // Oct 14, 2009 at 4:47 am
> In a letter released by Census Project, a group of census stakeholders,
> the former Census Bureau directors urged Congress not to adopt Vitter’s amendment
> to the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill, which would deny federal
> funds to the 2010 Census if it did not include questions regarding United States citizenship.
> The former Census Bureau directors note in the letter that census questions are
>usually submitted two or three years before Census Day, and that a change to the
> questionnaire at this point would be impossible, writing that:
> “Such a massive revision could not be accomplished in time to conduct the census
> on its currently envisioned schedule…The resulting cost to the taxpayer is almost
> incalculable.”
Mak previously wrote:
>The Census Bureau has been hit with a deluge of criticism after NewMajority
> revealed that employees with criminal records may have been hired to knock on doors.
>Now, NewMajority has learned that the bureau miscalculated the cost of the 2010 Census
> by at least $4 billion and has no idea how much the count will end up costing.
Well that settles it then.
First, Mak complains about cost overruns and poor management.
How the hell can you possibly justify Vitter’s late addition in that case since it will further increase costs?!?!
He should have proposed this 2-3 years earlier according to normal procedure, as the former Census directors apparently are saying here.
MARCU$
me // Oct 14, 2009 at 6:09 am
It is so hard to talk about race in public.
http://americaspeaksink.com/2009/08/i-disagree-therefore-i-am-a-racist/
balconesfault // Oct 14, 2009 at 8:04 am
http://americaspeaksink.com/2009/08/i-disagree-therefore-i-am-a-racist/
web page hit troll …
LessThanExpert // Oct 14, 2009 at 8:46 am
Let’s put it on the NEXT census. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to find out how many non-citizens live here, although it would probably lead to a panic episode. But if they’re already making up the census forms, why bother now? I’ll tell you why. David Vitter is demagoguing because of his prostitution problems and now is rolling out the right-wing’s greatest hits!
sinz54 // Oct 14, 2009 at 9:59 am
spikeytx86: I don’t see what’s racist about trying to get a gauge on how many people are here illegally?
According to the Fifth Amendment, no one can be forced to incriminate themselves.
The Government cannot require you to answer the question “Are you an illegal immigrant”–because for you to admit that is for you to admit that you’re violating the law. It would be no different than forcing every person to answer the question “Have you broken the law and not yet been caught for it”.
The Government can ask–but everyone in the nation has the right to “take the Fifth”.
balconesfault // Oct 14, 2009 at 10:45 am
The thing that someone like Vitter … and even I myself … don’t have an intuitive sense of is that the question may seem innocent enough to us, but is akin to a challenge to a latino in many communities across the US. Even legal ones. I grew up in San Antonio in the 60’s, hearing people whose families had been in Texas for generations still called “wetbacks”, for example.
So you have a problem – you’re asking a question that’s likely to get false responses, you’re asking a question that immediately creates an adversarial barrier between the surveyor and the participant, and when it’s circulated that some government guy is going door to door asking if the residents are legal, you’re going to end up with a lot of doors simply not being opened. In other words, you’re likely to generate bad data from the question itself, and to bias the rest of the survey responses … not to mention driving up the cost of performing the survey.
DFL // Oct 14, 2009 at 11:33 am
Senator Vitter is correct. And round-ups of illegal immigrants must be a priority, not who runs Afghanistan, Ian and Iraq.
greg_barton // Oct 14, 2009 at 11:36 am
I’m lying? d00d, use google. Search for “hispanic citizen deported” and educate your ignorant self.
sinz54 // Oct 14, 2009 at 12:36 pm
dfl: Senator Vitter is correct. And round-ups of illegal immigrants must be a priority, not who runs Afghanistan, Ian and Iraq.
IOW, Senator Vitter and you want to use the Census as a law enforcement tool.
That’s not its intended purpose.
And as I said, it wouldn’t work anyway. Because the Bill of Rights gives everyone the right to refuse to answer anyway.
DFL // Oct 14, 2009 at 1:53 pm
sinz, if I could paraphrase Mr. Spock- “In an insane world, the sane must pretend to be insane.” Yes, the Census should not be helping with law enforcement yet we have an Executive Branch which refuses to do it’s assigned duty to protect it’s borders.
Positive Liberty » Immigration without Representation // Oct 14, 2009 at 3:19 pm
[...] Tim Mak of NewMajority.com reports: Six former Census Bureau directors united this week to oppose Sen. David Vitter’s (R-LA) proposal to add a question on citizenship and immigration status to the 2010 census. [...]
Brittanicus // Oct 14, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Soon America is going to be confronted with another out-of-control AMNESTY for the 20 to 30 million illegal aliens already here. This is not taking into account the millions who will follow on, once the word gets out through Central and South America and the rest of the world. Only the armed National Guard on our lax border will be able to stop the incursion of the destitute, the sick, drug dealers, slavers, foreign terrorists and a multitude other entering this country illegally. The church, unions, the Communist ACLU, US Chamber of Commerce, Council of Foreign Relations and radical, International groups all have their agendas. These Anti-sovereignty organizations must embrace there corrupted puppet politicians, that ostensibly wants to make this cataclysm come true?
The driving force now behind this contradiction to his oath of Allegiance to American people is Rep.Luis Gutierrez’s of Illinois, whose immigration enforcement since being in office is a (F-) grading according to NUMBERSUSA. The American Workers—MUST– condemn this Immigration reform action by complaining to their indifferent Liberal Democrats and some Republicans at 202-224-3121. Don’t let the aides reject you offhand as you want your representative to know? Currently 15 million US workers with the most sitting at home, sending out references, walking the streets and looking for work. Then this joker Luis Gutierrez is pushing for a second Amnesty? What are these politicians thinking, or do they think at all? My hope the taxpayers show him the door—ALL OF THEM–when he/she wants to be re-elected.
Gutierrez is just one of many who have blemished their own records of their loyalty to the American people? I just know that the last AMNESTY was an absolute failure, owing to the fraud that transpired. I think the majority of the US population knows that the majority of our politicians in every administration had no true intentions of ever securing the border, or enforcing any immigration law. This has been proven over and over again, with Senators like Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Diane Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Janet Napolitano that have all genuflected to the demands of businesses big and small. It seems for decades that it’s been mandatory that we must support the world’s poor? The evidence has irrefutable shown that their disregard for US labor in Obama’s stimulus bill, the potential health care reform and whatever deviant law, they place in the Senate and House to support the illegal immigrants and families once they break into America? WE welcome a millions or more legal immigrants each year? Even police departments are reprimanded as Arizona Sheriff Joe Araipo, who is carry out duties, our government seems to cold-shoulder.
INSTEAD OF JUST A CIVIL INFRACTION, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTION SHOULD BE PENALISED AS A FELONY? THAT’S WHY THEY KEEP ON COMING? We should demand of those who represent us that E-Verify should be implemented immediately as mandatory, with no exemptions. Everybody in the workplace Must be verified. No more voluntary E-Verify? Every police department should be trained to apprehend and question any individual they see fit to check? No more of this Liberal Socialist political correctness garbage on racial profiling? We should have a federal force to audit I-9’s, with the defiant ones going to prison. ICE should have larger funding with more interior and border agents, to sweep down on illegal business activities. Identify for yourself those politicians who are involved in corruption at JUDICIAL WATCH site. Our nation is silently being dismantled by the globalists and those who wave the banner for them.
Small states will miss out big time on federal dollars in the 2010 Census, while mass illegal immigrant states will gain more seats in Congress and too much power and influence in general elections? California specifically, because of the handicapped zombie Liberal Democrats In Sacramento, who should be thrown out of office into a garbage dump, owing to the billions they used underwriting the illegal alien population. They caused the financial crisis in the once-Golden state, by ignoring the millions of illegal aliens, gang bangers bleeding San Fran and Los Angeles dry of revenue. Of course ICE could check the immigration status of those who are counted, even though it’s supposedly against US law? Or is counting 20 million plus (?) non-legal residence against the US Constitution? But then these politicians do not recognize what is illegal from illegal anymore?
Don’t let sympathy cloud your mind to our own countries deterioration, the infrastructure and uncorrectable overpopulation. Each year our State and federal taxes go ever higher, to pay for the illegal immigrants, their emergency care, education, their extended circle of relatives that enter under family reunification. THE TAXPAYER HAS BECOME THE BREADWINNERS ILLEGAL ALIENS IN THIS COUNTRY AND THE WORLD. IT MUST STOP!