Come out, come out, undocumenteds: The Census wants to count you

EDITORIAL: So let me get this straight: Government officials are promising undocumented immigrants a pass if they come out of hiding to be counted for the 2010 Census?

The same people who've been blamed for every ill that's befallen this country are now being asked to do their part to help New Jersey draw down more federal dollars for education, social services and more?

I have seen some crazy stuff in my life, but this one has to rank way up there.
See, the Census helps determine how much money goes where -- not to mention how many members of Congress each state is alloted. God, this is rich.

JERRY DeMARCO Publisher/Editor CLIFFVIEW PILOT

"Don't worry, illegals. No one will be deported, taken into custody, torn from their family. C'mon, we're the federal government! If you can't believe us, who can you believe? Honest: When someone knocks and says they've come to ask a few questions, they're just counting heads."

Oh, yeah? I haven't heard anyone calling off the ICE dogs. No one's even mentioned a moratorium on the raids.

Excuse me, but this smacks of counting dead people in an election. Because, for all intents and purposes, the undocumented don't exist, except as some demonized underworld out to shovel our country down the toilet -- even though many of them work long, hard hours for little wages, taking what they can get, trying to make better lives for themselves.

Sure, you got chiselers. But, believe me, as a former social services reporter -- one whose mother worked in social services for many years -- they ain't all immigrants.

Raul Vicente, a spokesman for the U.S. Commerce Department’s Census Bureau, noted that census workers, under federal law, face fines if they reveal personal information they collect. For that reason, he said, "we won't share the information we gather."

But enforcing that law is the very same government that is now telling the illegals it's OK to answer the door.

Does anyone in their right mind believe they're gonna buy this?

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Trudy said:

This is nothing new...
Out here in Arizona we've had a Census every 5 years since 1990, and I've worked every one except this time. I've done everything from field operations supervisor to enumerator.

There has always been a directive to try to get everybody to cooperate, legal or not. Every community wants to be able to account for as many people as possible, and there is no question about legality on the form.

To report any kind of illegal activity unless it directly involves the Census worker (such as an assault or something like that) is a breach of confidentiality punishable by law.

I've seen stuff myself, but have never reported anything. Neither has anybody else here that I'm aware of. People that work the Census tend to be people that really need the job when the economy's bad, as the pay is pretty good and out here you get wonderful mileage reimbursement.

Nobody's going to do anything to jeopardize that!