The Census and the GOP Latino Strategy: If You Can't Beat 'Em, Don't Count 'Em
The amendment to the fiscal 2010 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill (HR 2847) being proposed in the senate right now to stop funding the 2010 Census until they change their survey to include questions about citizenship may be the final nail in the coffin of the GOP/Latino relationship.
Fresh from their successful assault on ACORN, who incurred the wrath of the GOP not because members gave bad advice to pretend pimps, but because of their ability to register millions of poor people ahead of the 2008 elections, the radical right now turns on the revered and apolitical institution of the Census Bureau, in the hopes of intimidating future generations from the most basic of social participation -- being counted.
Specifically, Republican Sens. David Vitter of Louisiana and Bob Bennett of Utah have proposed to require all those who fill out the surveys to affirm their citizenship status, and then attempt to discount millions of people who peacefully live, work and contribute to America. The justification is that the undocumented should not be counted because they can't vote. However, there is no question of whether people are ex-cons, another population of people who do not have voting rights in many states, but are counted within the census numbers. The amendment gets even narrower as they consider making the choice "citizen" or "non-citizen" seeking to discount even further those who are "legal" residents or have visas but haven't yet become full citizens.
What they hope of course, is not only that this new requirement will "out" the undocumented, but that it will also intimidate Latinos nationally, including citizens and residents, from filling out the surveys for fear of having to out a family member, house guest, employee, or friend. They hope to not only push the undocumented further into the shadows, but erase from the rolls a whole community of people, immigrant or otherwise, who are shaping the largest population shift this country has ever seen.
Removing Acorn from the picture was essential to this strategy. The Republicans knew that ACORN had the drive and motivation, and the thousands of workers who knew the streets better than any bureaucrat or well intentioned bourgeois volunteer, and could efficiently uncover previously under-counted households, especially in poor and of color communities.
The next step in their playbook to attempt to slow down the "The Great Progression" as author and journalist Geraldo Rivera calls it, would be to intimidate those who may be motivated to be counted by forcing the citizenship declaration. The proposed amendment to require resident affirmation seeks to subtly imply that the government wants to not only know where you are, but kick you or your loved ones out. The irony of the situation is that the undocumented rarely fill out the survey, mostly because of their mistrust on how the information will be used, and because the surveys are sent to households, not to individuals with no permanent address. It is one of the reasons to suspect that the target is not actually the undocumented, but a community commonly associated with them.
While sinister, the short term gain of this strategy has the bigger potential of being a long term loss for the Republican party, and those who support this measure. The Republicans are not seeing past the idea that these people are "other" or that they are "foreigners" because if they did, they would realize they have the potential for attracting scores of first generation immigrants, who typically have conservative, Christian ideals and come from center-right countries. For every immigrant with or without documentation that they intimidate or provide additional barriers for them to become integrated, positive members of American society, there are many more in the younger generations, citizens all, with the very clear memories of the experience of their families and communities, and how they are being treated. These current and future citizens are making choices as to where to place their money and their allegiances politically. A lack of representation in the census numbers will not hide the very real fact that the future of Latinos and the future of the United States of America are irreversibly connected. By continuing to use every opportunity to discount the fastest growing population of Americans, the GOP may be the ones counting themselves into oblivion.
Follow Miguel Guadalupe on Twitter: www.twitter.com/miguad98
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Miguel, a little detail about counting those prisoners: Most prisons are located in Republican strongholds - which usually happen to have more cows than people, except for those prisoners. The prisoners can't vote, as you said (except in Vermont, and I think one other state). The Republican prison towns get federal resources for schools, roads, infrastructure as if all those prisoners were free citizens who use all those facilities and services, but as we all know, they don't use anything but what's contained in the boxes they live in. Those prison towns also get a congressional district from counting prisoners who can't vote, and the primarily prison-guard-supported cow towns are mainly law-and-order, jail-more-people Republican voters. So whether it's prisoners or undocumented or documented but uncounted immigrants, liberals lose when people who might vote Dem or for a third party are uncounted, or are counted but can't vote.
Everyone, liberal or not, who lives in a city where most of those prisoners come from is already suffering the loss of all that federal funding for all those people who are counted in the prisons, not where they are from and where they are ultimately released back to - by force, they cannot go live elsewhere in many cases, they are paroled in the primarily cities they came from. Those cities don't have enough resources to deal with the huge prison-released population because the cow-dominated Republican towns got the resources and the added congressional rep.
Wow. Thanks for that background. It really says a lot towards the Prison Industrial Complex and why Republicans try so hard to protect "enforcement only" policies. I always found it amazing how conservatives see no problem spending billions for jails but balk at spending billions for schools and programs designed to keep kids out of those jails...and then have the nerve to call it "special interest" spending.
Would love to know more...U R Fanned!
You're very welcome. Check out sentencingproject.org, a great blog/research outfit. I just typed "census" to find the data I read years ago (I was a volunteer paralegal for women in CA prisons, what an enlightening and heartbreaking experience!) and found the article, it came out in 2003, http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/Taormina.pdf
You've probably read articles on CA school funding vs. prison/jails funding, but here's one from '07: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/29/EDGGTP3F291.DTL
Que viva la educacion! Sigue pa'lante!
Counting illegal immigrants as citizens is simply rediculous as is advicating to do so.
Follows the mentality that was enabled the city council to pass a resolution that driver do not need to be licensed or insured to drive in Denver.
Denver looks to be headed down the same hole as Miami.
Sorry to see WilliamL that you don't understand the issue at hand.
Not counting all persons who live in your city or state can only hurt you as well. It limits the funds that would go to your roads, your schools, your law enforcement, because having a shadow population - one that exists without resources - will only put a strain on the resources that currently exists. Remember most immigrants, documented or no, are paying taxes, but if they are not counted, those tax dollars don't end up coming back to benefit the population as a whole.
Enforcement only policies are ineffective in curbing the flow of immigration - it only hurts families, communities, and yes, people like you and I because it limits the positive ways of integrating new populations of people. For example - I agree that a driver's license and insurance SHOULD be neccesary for anyone on the road, but if that means a person risks deportation to get a license to find honest work... they won't get that license or insurance, and that means more dangerous roads for you and me and our children. A BETTER way would be to demand insurance and licenses of all drivers, but allow alternatives to only allowing citizens to attain both.
My point, WilliamL is that a policy of exclusion does nothing to help this country. Only a commitment to find ways to include and integrate new populations of people will bring about positive change that will benefit all of
Oh, I am very well aquainted with the issue at hand: people such as yourself believe that foriegn nationals who have come to this country illegally, live and drive illegal, are somehow excpempt from the same laws as US citizens and them not having insurance and a license is ok because they are afraid to be deported.
If it is driving, "moving" to the US, living here, it is all good, whatever, just count them, allow them to drive around with no insurance, no license, whatever. Have you considered that one form of deterent to such illegal behavior would be arresting them and sending them home?
So what happens when one of these people drive into my vehicle and hurts me or the passengers? Is it ok to ask for a license, insurance, take them to jail, deport them at that point?
I am not advocating exclusion but instead identification, along the same lines of a valid license. Look, most have come to this country to work and make a life for their family. Their decision to side step laws and recieve special accomodations for doing so is offensive.
I am very well aquainted with the policies and hopefully won't get hit by an undocumented foriegn national with no license, insurance.
Counting illegal immigrants as citizens is somehow going to create posative change is interesting.
How about counting them on paper as they are which is not a legal citizen?
Ever consider that giving services to non-citizens was/is part of the problem?
The gov'ts of individuals who have came to this country by evading the immigration process are the gov'ts who are responsible for providing services and not the US gov't.
The whole business with paying taxes is questionable and over stated at best-not all pay taxes.
How about the gangs and crime associated with the arrival of undocumented foriegn nationals? The Feds just arrested 300 memebers of a Mexican Cartel. I doubt all of these guys were legal. Sd. we offer them service as well? How about MS 13 and such criminals? How much does the US pay in jail fees for such criminals? How about the Haitian Cartel/Gangs in S. FL. ?
It is interesting that one segment of the world population believes that immigration policies do not apply to them, only to others, and that they are entitled to things like in-state college fees, medical care, pre-natal, post natal, and the rest of it.
In addition, these individuals expect citizens to learn their lanquage in order to compensate for their lack of knowing English. I find that very interesting.
Bottom line is that there is a patern of circumventing the immigration process, avoiding a driver's license/insurance, believing entitled to social services, expecting citizens to learn their native lanquage, let alone the criminal element of those who came here to simply commit crimes.
They may have lost the war but they're darn determined not to lose the battle!
Vote supression attempts will be especially strong in 2010-12 election cycle.
The GOP is on record (not officially) declaring they win when people DON'T vote.
That's why you see people like Blackwell and Harris, state chief elkection officers doubling as GOP state campaign co-chairs in presedential elections. Imagine if the umpire was on the payroll of one of the teams on the field.
That's why you will see big time keystone cops like Joe arpio in Arizona conducting his crime sweeps on election day.
What was the status of this census issue when GOP controlled WH and Congress?
Citizens: keep your talking points straight:
Voter fraud is done by individuals, like a parolee who registers to vote, or Ann Coulter who registered in FL using the address of her realtor so no one could find where she lives.
Voter fraud is rare and can never tip a major election.
Election fraud is done under color of authority, like what Blackwell and Harris did. Or the GOP does with its attempts at caging, or manipulation of software in voting machines.
Election fraud can and does tip elections.
The GOP are masters at election fraud going back to 1988, when the RNC was put under court order to desist in the practice of caging.
And don't give the hack, stupid response that the Dems stole Illinois to give Kennedy the election in 1960. First, it was a half century ago, and second, he would have won anyway without Illinois's EVs.
"By continuing to use every opportunity to discount the fastest growing population of Americans, the GOP may be the ones counting themselves into oblivion."
The sooner the better, as far as I'm concerned. The same way they fail to look at Health-Care as a health issue, and not an insurance issue, they think pof this as an Immigration issue and not an American one.
We are a Nation of many, and all contribute to it. To fail to include and provide for these people, as all citizens already should be (Emphasis on "should be"), they are railing against the financial progress we need by counting all, and getting them all included in the process of moving this country forward. Not quite the concept that resonates in the Conservative/Rethuglican mind.
This is not the same GOP of 20 years ago. It has been hijacked by the bigots and racists. They don't care about winning elections -- they only care about being pure(ly white).
Don't kid yourself. The GOP 20 years ago was pretty bigoted too, with guys like Ailes and Atwater running things for the GOP.
And their attempts at vote supression then were just as strong as they are today, it's just that today it can be done by changing a line of code in some software.
Agree about the white part, the GOP is 80% white and christian.
But believe me, the more bigoted they are, the MORE they want to win.
Remember the rallying cry "I want my country back?"
We'll hear a lot more of that going forward.
Bueno!!
58 MILLION people went to the polls to vote for these people.
We have a long, long way to go.
To put this in perspective, Obama and Dukakis got nearly the same share of the white vote, 20 years apart. Dukakis failed miserably and Obama won in a landslide.
If the GOP wants to be the party of the straight, white male, they are tying themselves to a progressively more difficult electoral strategy. This time 20 years hence, whites will be a minority in many key states, and Hispanics may achieve majority status in Texas.
why not just compromise and let them count 3/5s of a citizen?
Spot on! Fanned.
Does the output of the Cenus Bureau directly impact the number of Congressional Seats?
I mean, if the CB says that state x has 100 citizensin it today versus 90 last time, and congressional seats are apportioned per every 10 citizens, does state x get another representative directly because of the census data?
If so, wouldn't 'citizen' be an appropriate piece of information to have?
1. No. It is the basis for determining representation, but the number of House seats is set by legislation. If the number of seats doesn't change, the census data is used to determine the population contained in one Congressional district, and districts must be adjusted to conform.
2. No. "Citizen" has nothing to do with representation. Amendment 14, Section 2:
"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed."
"Persons", not "citizens".
Do you notice how the founders were careful to use the word "person" in the USConst rather than the word "citizen?"
Like in the 14th amendment. A person is a citizen if they are born in the US.
Those rascally founders, even then they knew.
Although only elected by citizens, they are supposed to represent the interests of all residents - aka constituents - in their district. Just because someone doesn't/can't vote doesn't mean that the representative is excused from advocating for them, else they'd have no need to advocate for, say, children.
Some of the people who aren't citizens are just not citizens *yet*. Areas with high immigrant populations also generally have larger numbers of naturalized citizens. Many of those people who are not citizens at the time of this census may be by the 2020 census.
It's not a simplistic issue. People who are not citizens but are residents still use the roads, schools for their children, and other community resources that are at least partially funded by federal money, and the census data is also used by state level governments to determine which areas need more financial support from the state level too.
ACORN has not been found guilty of any offence, and yet they get defunded.
Military contractors commit fraud on a regular basis, and continue to receceive new contracts.
How much money does ACORN receive?
How much is spent on military contractors?
Retired Air Defence Gunner
They will get their funding back....Their Lawyers will make sure of that because congress was wrong because they haven't been found guilty just like you said........
IF THEY are going to defund Acorn, defund Halliberton, Blackwater and all the others who rob the government and found guilty and had to pay back millions.
You are expecting too much now that the GOP has all but declared the Latino community "un-needed" for their party's survival.
I think everything the GOP did to block funding for ACORN and now this Census shanannigans will surely come back to haunt them in less than a generation.
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