Evangelical Latino Groups Advise Illegal Immigrants on Census
Illegal immigrants among America's Hispanic and Latino community are being pulled in different directions over the upcoming Census, as some the community's leaders are urging them to boycott and others are urging them to participate.
"A full count is critical for the continued economic and political progress of the Latino community," says Dr. Jesse Miranda, CEO of the National Hispanic Christian Leader Conference (NHCLC), the nation's largest Hispanic Christian organization, representing over 25,000 Hispanic churches and 75 denominations in addition to faith-based organizations, institutes, networks, congregations, and active laity.
"An undercount of the Latino community will do serious damage to our families and our neighborhoods," he adds, opting to describe the community with the grassroots term "Latino" rather than the government-selected term "Hispanic." "By diminishing the representation of newcomers in our democracy, an undercount will also undermine efforts to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. Encouraging anyone not to participate in the Census is simply wrong."
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But according to the nation's second largest Latino Christian advocacy group, years of neglect and lack of action have made a boycott of the Census a necessary step to ensure comprehensive immigration reform.
"We cannot continue looking the other way, while over 12 million undocumented immigrants are being exploited, which is de facto institutionalized slavery," insists the Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC), which represents over 20,000 Hispanic Christian churches and faith-based ministries in 34 States.
Rivera's group believes a boycott will pressure lawmakers to fix the nation's broken immigration system before the U.S. Census Bureau starts counting the U.S. population on April 1, 2010.
"Members of Congress, Governors, Mayors and local politicians are being left with the task of making comprehensive immigration reform happen, before March 31, 2010," Rivera says.
Currently, Hispanics and Latinos constitute 15.1 percent of the total U.S. population, or 45.4 million people, forming the second largest ethnic group after non–Hispanic White Americans. Of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the nation, almost three-quarters are Latino.
Aside from NHCLC, Esperanza, a Philadelphia-based association of more than 12,000 church and community organizations nationwide, has also expressed opposition to CONLAMIC's boycott efforts, calling it "ridiculous."
As the Rev. Luis Cortes Jr., president and founder of Esperanza, notes, billions of federal dollars are apportioned to the states on the basis of the census.
"It's a strategy that, if successful, can close some emergency rooms ... provide less police protection for our communities ... provide less money for the children of our communities to go to school," Cortes said at a news conference earlier this month.
Most recently, Esperanza held its annual prayer breakfast in the nation's capital and drew a promise from President Obama to commit to passing comprehensive immigration reform.
Addressing hundreds from the Latino community, Obama committed to providing a way for millions of undocumented immigrants to become U.S. citizens while also strengthening border security.
He specifically noted that the "fair, practical and promising way forward" on the immigration issue is to require illegal immigrants to pay a penalty, pay taxes, learn English and "go to the back of the line behind those who played by the rules."
"The American people believe in immigration," he said. "But they also believe that we can't tolerate a situation where people come to the United States in violation of the law nor can we tolerate employers who exploit undocumented workers in order to drive down wages.
"That is the fair, practical, and promising way forward, and that's what I'm committed to passing as President of the United States," Obama added.
Though Hispanic leaders such as Cortes hope the reform will pass this year, White House officials have done little to build up that hope.
Earlier this year, Obama administration officials told CNN that the White House is not pushing to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year given the state of the economy and other pressing issues. And though the president had always planned to begin discussing the matter this year the job will not likely be done this year, according to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
Despite the lack of a clear timeline, Esperanza and the NHCLC are calling on illegal immigrants to participate in the Census, emphasizing that the statistics determine reapportionment and political representation, and are also used for allocating federal funding for many social and economic programs that benefit the Hispanic community, along with other residents.
Additionally, Census data are used for the enforcement of civil rights and anti-discrimination laws, including the Voting Rights Act.
"A full count will help our communities move forward on the path of political empowerment, prosperity, and transformation," says Dr. Gilbert Velez, NHCLC chairman.
Aside from NHCLC and Esperanza, other groups that are informing and motivating the nearly 50 million U.S. Latinos to fully participate in the 2010 Census include Comunidad Presbiteriana Hispana & El Pozo de Jacob, The Jesse Miranda Center for Hispanic Christian Leadership, The Hispanic Mega Church Association, The Hispanic Pentecostal Congress and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Together, the groups have partnered for the ya es hora !HAGASE CONTAR! (It's Time, Make Yourself Count!) campaign as a coalition of prominent Latino organizations and national Spanish-language media.
