NALEO Educational Fund Condemns Vitter-Bennett Amendment as Effort to Suppress Latino Census Count

NALEO Educational Fund Condemns Vitter-Bennett Amendment as Effort to Suppress
Latino Census Count

Amendment would derail 2010 Census and the nation's democratic process

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of
Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund issued the
following statement regarding the Vitter-Bennett amendment to the CJS
appropriations bill that would require residents to answer a question on
citizenship and immigration status in the 2010 Census:

"The NALEO Educational Fund strongly condemns the Vitter-Bennett amendment to
the Senate legislation that will fund Census 2010 operations, because it is an
unconstitutional and costly effort to suppress Latino participation in the
decennial Census. Moreover, it would derail the 2010 Census and deprive our
nation of timely and accurate data critical to our representative democracy.
Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) have proposed an
amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies (CJS)
appropriations bill that would require residents to answer a question on
citizenship and immigration status as part of the 2010 Census. The Senate may
take action related to the amendment in the next few legislative days.

"The proponents of the Vitter-Bennett amendment hope to exclude undocumented
residents and possibly all non-citizens from being counted in Census 2010 for
the purposes of apportioning Congressional seats. This would thwart the clear
language in the U.S. Constitution which mandates a count of all of the
nation's residents for apportionment purposes. In 1868, our nation adopted the
14th Amendment to the Constitution that repealed the provision which only
counted slaves as three-fifths of a person. The Vitter-Bennett amendment
evokes this shameful legacy, and is an effort to make a fundamental change to
our Constitution through appropriations legislation. It represents a reckless
departure from decades of our nation's Census practices, intended to ensure
that every 10 years, we have the most accurate portrait possible of America.

"By making intrusive inquiries into immigration status, the Vitter-Bennett
amendment would raise concerns among all residents -- both native-born and
immigrant -- about the confidentiality and privacy of information provided to
the Census Bureau. This would deter participation in the Census count,
particularly among Latino residents, which we believe is the ultimate goal of
the amendment's proponents. Latinos are the nation's second largest and
fastest-growing population group, and we cannot have a successful 2010
enumeration without a full count of the Latino community.

"The Vitter-Bennett amendment would also compel the Census Bureau to add a new
question to 2010 Census materials, costing us billions of dollars and
countless months of delay. At a time when our nation is facing serious
economic challenges, it is simply irresponsible to require the government to
spend valuable resources on testing and revising Census questions, changing
its promotional and training materials, and rebuilding data processing
software and equipment.

"Under U.S. law, the Census Bureau must submit the topics it will ask in the
decennial enumeration to Congress three years before Census Day (April 1,
2010), and the actual Census questions two years prior to that date. Senators
Vitter and Bennett, as well as the entire membership of Congress, had ample
opportunity to raise any concerns about the scope of the Census in 2007 and
2008, when Congress enacted its required approvals. With Census Day less than
six months away, the Vitter-Bennett amendment would force the Census Bureau to
make massive changes in its operations that are certain to prevent the 2010
count from starting and finishing on time. The Vitter-Bennett amendment would
throw these operations into chaos, creating delays that will reverberate for
years to come.

"Without a timely Census count, we will not meet the deadline for
reapportioning seats in Congress, or providing the data needed for state and
local redistricting. Reapportionment and redistricting are critical to
ensuring that our government remains responsive and accountable; the
Vitter-Bennett amendment would sabotage the future of our democratic process.

"The leadership of the U.S. Senate is working to obtain a cloture vote on the
CJS appropriations bill, which could lead to a ruling that the Vitter-Bennett
amendment is not relevant to the bill. Under such circumstances, the amendment
would not move forward. We urge the Senate to vote in favor of cloture, which
would lay the foundation for halting the Vitter-Bennett amendment. If the
cloture vote is not successful, we urge every Senator to oppose this
unconstitutional and costly and measure if it comes to the Senate floor. We
cannot afford to waste billions of dollars on an effort aimed at suppressing
the Latino Census count and jeopardizing the accuracy of the most important
source of data about our nation's population. We call on the White House to
work with the Senate leadership to help ensure that lawmakers reject this
disastrous course."

About NALEO Educational Fund
The NALEO Educational Fund is the nation's leading non-partisan, non-profit
organization that facilitates the full participation of Latinos in the
American political process, from citizenship to public service.

Contact: Gloria Montano Greene (202) 546-2536
gmontanogreene@naleo.org
Rosalind Gold (213) 747-7606, ext. 4420
rgold@naleo.org

SOURCE NALEO Educational Fund

Gloria Montano Greene, +1-202-546-2536, gmontanogreene@naleo.org, or Rosalind
Gold, +1-213-747-7606, ext. 4420, rgold@naleo.org, both of NALEO Educational
Fund