Concern over Latino evangelical leader's call to boycott U.S. census
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0:00 PM PDT on Saturday, May 9, 2009
As immigrant and Latino organizations gear up to urge illegal immigrants to participate in the 2010 census, a Latino evangelical leader is telling them to boycott the count unless comprehensive immigration reform is enacted.
The Rev. Miguel Rivera, chairman of the Washington-based National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, appears to be alone among national Latino leaders in promoting a boycott.
But his call worries immigration-rights advocates, who say it could lead to fewer services in immigrant communities and hurt efforts to increase Latino political influence. Census population counts are used to shape congressional districts and help determine where federal funding goes.
Local immigration activists are planning outreach campaigns to encourage census participation. The Census Bureau is working with community groups across the country to promote the benefits of filling out the census.
"Unfortunately the comments and posture taken by (the coalition) may very well have a negative impact and cause more trepidation in a community that was already naturally hesitant to participate in the census," said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the Sacramento-based National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, an evangelical group that supports a full census count.
Rodriguez said even if a few hundred thousand of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants do not participate, it could mean millions of dollars in lost funding.
The U.S. Census Bureau will begin mailing forms in March 2010. The U.S. Constitution requires the census to count everyone, whether they are legal residents or not. The census does not ask immigration status.
Many illegal immigrants fear answering an official government survey like the census or talking with a government employee, believing it could lead to deportation, said Laura Barrera, deputy director for the Census for the Los Angeles-based National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. The boycott taps into those fears, she said.
The 2000 census undercounted the Hispanic population by about 3 percent, Barrera said. The Census Bureau estimates the 2000 Hispanic undercount was less than 1 percent, down from an undercount of about 5 percent in 1990, said Raul Cisneros, a census spokesman.
Barrera's group is launching a Spanish-language media campaign in October to reassure immigrants and others that census answers are not shared with other government agencies. Census employees face fines or jail for disclosing information.
The group is also setting up a hotline to address census concerns, said Barrera, who called Rivera "irresponsible" for threatening a boycott.
Rivera said he is not convinced the census information will remain confidential, despite the law. And he believes that population data from the census can be combined with voter statistics to determine which areas have the largest illegal-immigrant populations, which could lead to harsh anti-illegal-immigrant laws and Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdowns.
Rivera said he hopes the boycott threat helps lead to a push for legalization of millions of illegal immigrants.
"If governors want to have that funding in their states, and if mayors want to have that funding in their cities, they need to stop looking the other way and roll up their sleeves and put pressure on Congress to bring about comprehensive immigration reform," he said.
Population data from the census help determine how about $300 billion in federal funding each year is distributed. A smaller population for a city, county or state leads to less funding.
Census data also is used to form congressional districts, which are created based upon total population, including illegal immigrants.
For the first time this year, census forms will be mailed to about 13 million households -- about half of all Latino homes -- in English and Spanish, Cisneros said.
Armando Navarro, a professor of ethnic studies at UC Riverside and coordinator of the Riverside-based National Alliance for Human Rights, said an undercount of illegal immigrants would lead to less political power for immigrants and Latinos by underestimating their numerical clout.
Navarro said he and other activists are planning Inland town-hall meetings to encourage immigrants to participate in the census. The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino is planning its own outreach campaign, said diocesan spokesman John Andrews.
Emilio Amaya, executive director of the San Bernardino Community Service Center, which will distribute pro-census leaflets in immigrant communities, predicted Rivera's boycott call will be outweighed by campaigns by local community groups to encourage participation in the census.
Navarro said illegal immigrants, who cannot vote, do not have the political leverage to force immigration reform through a boycott threat. Instead, the boycott call may backfire, causing more anti-immigrant sentiment, he said.
"This says one thing to me: That in the absence of any organized strategy, they come up with something so desperate that they don't think of the cost-benefit and the cause and effect," Navarro said.
Reach David Olson at 
951-368-9462
or dolson@PE.com
Comment: Rev. Rivera should stick to his pulpit and passing the basket as he shears the sheep. He is patently demented when it comes to connected realities of working with the upcoming 2010 Census. I can relate to his call for a new for real comprehension immigration reform, but the idea of non participating in the U.S. Census is counter-productive.
If it was up to the reactionary-racist right wing elements in society they would be glad if none of us Latinos-Chicanos-Raza people were counted!
I agree with Professor Navarro. We are always under-counted anyways. I have lived in Sacramento, California almost all my life ~ other than when I lived in Phoenix and myself participated in the U.S. Census as a census poller. I myself have never been contacted by the local U.S. Census Bureau. We need to find out where our local U.S. Census officials are at wnat what they are doing to GET OUT THE CENSUS COUNT! We already are routinely and systematically undercounted by the U.S. in the millions of us!!!
Education for Liberation!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka: Peta
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
Yahoo Email: peter.lopez51@yahoo.com
http://anhglobal.ning.com/group/humanerightsagenda
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetworkAztlan_News/
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