Census a count of people, not citizens

One of the arguments I have heard used about how flawed the U.S. Census is these days is that it is wrong for people who are not U.S. citizens to be counted.

Including them in the population count for the United States somehow distorts “the truth” about the current composition of this country – or so argue the nativist elements of our society.

THESE ARE THE people who argue that it is somehow un-American for the Latino activist groups to try to organize efforts to ensure that we get as accurate a count of how many Latinos there are in this country these days.

After all, they will argue, many of the Latinos are not yet U.S. citizens, and should not be counted. Attempts to count them are merely a scam by local government officials who are desperate to goose up their individual population counts to try to increase the share of federal and state funding they will receive during the upcoming decade.

Having written those four paragraphs, I feel like I have committed the act of diarrhea of the fingers, spewing a whole load of “caca” onto the Internet.

Seriously, I don’t understand the logic of people who get so bent out of shape about this issue.

THE WHOLE PURPOSE of the Census Bureau study that will be conducted next year will be to come up with as accurate an answer to a single question – How many people lived in the United States on April 1, 2010?

It isn’t how many U.S. citizens are there. If it were, then we’d have to figure out a way of counting all those expatriots who now are living or working in other countries – but for whatever reason choose to keep their legal status as citizens of the United States.

Not that I’m blaming those people for their choice.

But it is supposed to be about counting up how many people are here in this country. And whether or not one is a proper citizen, if they’re here they ought to be included in the overall tally.

IF ANYTHING, I’D like to get a count on how many people living here are not U.S. citizens, and how many of those do not have the visa or other documentation that would allow them to live openly in this country.

Not that I’m interested in compiling a list of cases for deportation. But I’d enjoy having an accurate figure of how many people were so desperate for a better life that they endured the hassles of slipping into this country (either by literally sneaking past a Border Patrol post or by overstaying a tourist or student visa).

One of the drawbacks of writing commentary about immigration issues is that one of the key statistics (12 million) concerning the number of people who are not in this country properly is little more than a guess.

It could be so ridiculously wrong that it doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously. If anything, an accurate figure would show us just how serious the immigration reform issue truly is.

SOMETIMES, I GET the sense that some people in this country don’t want to bother with the issue because they think it somehow doesn’t affect them directly.

That is why I will always have a hard time comprehending the thought process of those activists who are encouraging people to ignore the Census Bureau study when they receive it next spring.

They claim it is an act of protest to gain the attention of the federal government. I’d argue the way to gain the attention of the federal government and political people is to come up with the most accurate accounting possible of just how many Latinos there are in the United States – and how many of us seriously have visa issues.

If anything, it would show the people who don’t want to take the issue seriously that they risk their own political future because we are a growing number. And by all figures, it appears that growing numbers of us are U.S.-born.

THE REASON WE take the interest in this issue is because we realize there are those of you who cannot (or do not) want to tell the difference between a U.S. citizen Latino, a Latin American with a visa and one without.

So when I receive that Census Bureau form, I will be among those who quickly fills it out (although I doubt I’ll be as enthusiastic as Steve Martin’s “Navin Johnson” character was when the new telephone books arrived).

And any Latino with much in the way of sense ought to be doing the same. If we want to be fully included in the society of this nation, the first step is that we have to be counted.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Down along the U.S./Mexico border, local officials are trying to figure (http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/census-99625-city-residents.html) out how to get the most accurate population figure possible.