Pastors Want The Undocumented To Boycott Census Unless Immigration Reform Passes First
By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor
Miguel Rivera, president of CONLAMIC, calls for a Census boycott. (Photo: El Diario/La Prensa)
It may sound counterintuitive, but despite all the talk about ensuring that underrepresented minorities are counted in the 2010 Census, some Hispanic activists are calling for undocumented immigrants to avoid being counted next year.
A group of Evangelical leaders, the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC), is calling for immigrants to boycott the census “until Congress and the new administration pass a comprehensive solution to immigration reform that includes a path to legalization for an estimated 12 million undocumented people.”
The calculation behind the organization’s call is that cities and towns need their population to be counted accurately in order to receive federal funds for public services. The coalition’s president, Rev. Miguel Rivera, also says census information has been used in the past to target the undocumented population.
“Our church leaders have witnessed misuse of otherwise benign Census population data by state and local public officials in their efforts to pass and enact laws that assist in the perpetration of civil rights violations and abuses against undocumented workers and families,” Rivera said in a statement.