Census Action Alert

An article about the 2010 census from www.farius.org

Open Borders Lobby Battling Effort to Obtain Accurate Count of Illegal Alien Population:Call Your Senators Now and Ask them to Support the Vitter/Bennett Census Amendment!
The Senate is currently considering the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 spending bill for the departments of Commerce, Justice, and certain federal science programs. As FAIR has reported, much of the debate concerning this so-called “CJS” spending bill has centered on an amendment offered by Senators David Vitter (R-LA) and Robert Bennett (R-UT). This amendment would require the Census Bureau — which is part of the Department of Commerce — to include questions about citizenship and immigration status on the forms to be used in the upcoming 2010 Census.
The Census is used to apportion seats in Congress among the states, which, in turn, influences the composition of the Electoral College that elects the President. The Vitter/Bennett amendment would lay the groundwork for reforming how Congressional seats are apportioned by disregarding illegal aliens and other non-citizens so that they are no longer able to affect the outcome of U.S. elections.
The current apportionment system also rewards states that have encouraged illegal immigration — whether by granting taxpayer-funded welfare benefits, adopting laws that give illegal aliens a driver’s license or allowing their cities to adopt sanctuary policies — while states that have not adopted these policies are punished. In addition, the inclusion of illegal aliens in the apportionment of Congressional seats creates disparity between voters in districts with high and low illegal alien populations. Representation of citizens in districts with relatively few illegal aliens is diluted. Finally, certain federal programs rely on census data to determine how federal funds are dispersed, even though illegal aliens and new immigrants are not eligible for some of these programs. This means that states with large illegal alien populations receive more than their fair share of federal funding at the expense of other states.
As we have come to expect, the open borders lobby and some of their allies in Congress are attempting to block the Vitter amendment. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) used a parliamentary maneuver in a failed attempt to block a vote on the Vitter/Bennett Census amendment. Now, following Reid’s defeat, a group of amnesty supporting special interest groups is planning on holding a press conference on Capitol Hill in opposition to the Vitter amendment.
They will argue that it is too late to change next year’s Census and that not asking about citizenship and/or immigration status would corrupt the Census process. But, the fact is that the current system has corrupted equal representation of U.S. citizens in our Congress, and a change in that system is overdue.
Why is the open borders lobby so afraid of seeing this issue come to a vote? Why are they attempting to sweep this issue under the rug? The answer is clear. They don’t want the American people to know the extent that the illegal immigration problem affects our country. It would be one more thing that stands in the way of their push for a massive amnesty bill through Congress!
We can stop the amnesty lobby from preventing a vote on this amendment, but we need your help! Here’s what you can do to ensure that the federal government finally obtains an accurate count of the illegal alien population:
Call your Senators at (202) 224-3121 (or, click here to find your Senators). Urge your Senators to:
Support the Vitter/Bennett Census amendment to the FY2010 CJS spending bill.
Oppose any effort to shut off debate over this amendment, and oppose any effort to invoke cloture on the CJS bill, until the Vitter amendment gets the up-or-down vote it deserves!