Participation in census divides Latinos

WASHINGTON - At a time when advocates of immigration reform would rather project a united front, a disagreement about participation in the 2010 U.S. Census is sending fault lines through the Latino community.

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, a network of 16,000 churches in 32 states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, is urging undocumented immigrants to boycott the decennial count as a tactic to pressure Congress into enacting immigration reform this year.

The group wants legislators to create paths to legal status for the estimated 12 million immigrants living illegally in the United States. Almost three-quarters of them are Latino.

The boycott has been driven by the Rev. Miguel Rivera, a Christian evangelical leader who promotes it on his daily Spanish radio show in 11 markets, including Southeastern Pennsylvania. The campaign's slogan is "Antes de contar, nos tienen que legalizar" - or, roughly translated, "Before counting, make us legal."

But many other Latino leaders have lambasted the boycott as a terrible idea - counterproductive, born of frustration.

Leading the opposition is the Rev. Luis Cortes Jr., president and founder of Esperanza, a Philadelphia-based association of more than 12,000 church and community organizations nationwide. He calls the boycott "a tactic we believe puts us truly at risk."

"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 here, one day before the Esperanza-sponsored National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast on Friday.

Because billions of federal dollars are apportioned to the states on the basis of the census, Cortes said in an earlier interview, "a boycott, to us, is ridiculous."

For instance, if every undocumented immigrant did not answer the census, the count in Pennsylvania would be short by at least 140,000 and in New Jersey by 550,000, according to data from the Pew Hispanic Center.

Izzy Colon, director of Mayor Nutter's Office of Multicultural Affairs, said when he heard about the boycott about a month ago, he assumed it would get little traction.

"I thought it was just a passing thing," he said. "Who would listen? But all of a sudden it started spreading, started becoming news, especially in the Latino press."

At first, Rivera's plan seemed wrongheaded to Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican American Political Association, the California-based national group behind the "Day Without Immigrants" symbolic strike in 2006. A census boycott would fly in the face of efforts made over the years by mainline Latino organizations "fighting under the slogan 'Be counted,' " he said, explaining his initial reaction.

But in an Inquirer interview yesterday, he said he had become "a convert" to the boycott plan after attending meetings at which thousands of MAPA members supported it.

At Friday's prayer breakfast, Cortes introduced President Obama, who did not address the boycott campaign in his brief remarks but did say that immigration reform was a national priority, drawing applause.

President Bush also had attempted immigration reform, but the issue stalled in a deadlocked Congress.

As advocates gear up for another effort, most are pursuing classic tactics, like the hundreds of Esperanza members who lobbied elected officials on Capitol Hill last week.

Rivera wants more radical action.

"We cannot repeat the 1850s and 1860s - I'm talking about slavery - in which people are counted as part of some mathematical equation, but don't have legal rights," he said in an interview. "If that's the message that the census sends to our community, then everybody should be ashamed."

In Rivera's view, the census data used by Latino groups to show their growing numbers - and gain greater empowerment - also have been used to target and repress illegal immigrants.

It is no coincidence, he contends, that the 63 counties in America with the fastest-growing Latino populations are also the 63 with programs giving local police special authority to enforce federal immigration laws.

The boycott, Rivera says, raises the profile of stalled efforts for immigration reform and tells federal lawmakers, "How long are you guys going to keep procrastinating on this issue?"

The proposed boycott comes as census organizers gear up for what they say will be the most thorough count in history of every person in the United States. The decennial tally, mandated by Congress to count everyone, not just citizens, has taken place every 10 years since 1780.

Failing to answer a census inquiry is not in itself a deportable offense, but is punishable by fines up to $100. Providing false information can result in a $500 fine.

From his office on Market Street in Philadelphia, Census Bureau regional director Fernando E. Armstrong is responsible for the count in Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

He said that the 10-question census forms would begin arriving in mailboxes next April and that households would have about a month to send back the forms. After that, he said, trained census takers will make in-person visits to households that have not replied.

The forms, which will be circulated in Spanish in Latino neighborhoods, do not inquire about immigration status. Respondents' individual answers, Armstrong said, are not shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the policing arm known as ICE.

At the news conference, Cortes also emphasized that "the Census Bureau cannot - it is very important, and we stress the word cannot - share respondents' answers with . . . any government agency, which includes welfare."

Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for welfare anyway.

The Rev. Gabriel Salguero, director of Hispanic programs at Princeton Theological Seminary, was among clergy members who attended Esperanza's news conference calling for full participation in the census.

"If our people are not counted, they are invisible," Salguero said. "If they are invisible, they are anonymous. If they are anonymous, they lose advocacy and political power. On behalf of academicians, theologians, and biblical scholars we say, 'Invisibility is not an option.' "

For his part, Rivera said the better way to get attention is to stand up and not be counted.

"The reality right now is that universal health care and the economy are [Obama's] priorities," he said. "He gave his word to the Latino community that in his first year he would provide comprehensive immigration reform. But I know how this works. If there is nothing at this semester in the House [of Representatives], no proposal, it is very difficult to get things done."

The threatened boycott, he said, is an effort to spark action.