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Christianity Today, April (Web-only), 2009 |

Hispanic Groups Divided over 2010 Census

One group is urging a boycott while another group says Latinos should take part in the census.

By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service | posted 4/30/2009 10:01AM

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Two prominent Hispanic Christian organizations are divided on whether Latinos should participate in the 2010 U.S. census, while U.S. Catholic bishops say it's in everyone's "best interest to be counted."

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC) is urging undocumented members of its churches to boycott the census until comprehensive immigration reform is signed into law. The group wants legislation enacted that provides a way for some 12 million undocumented persons to be legalized.

"Our church leaders have witnessed misuse of otherwise benign census population data by state and local public officials in their efforts to pass and enact laws that assist in the perpetration of civil rights violations and abuses against undocumented workers and families,"said the Rev. Miguel Rivera, chairman of CONLAMIC, in an April 19 statement.

But the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) said "Latinos, regardless of faith or legal status," should take part in the census.

"For our communities, the benefits of participating in the census are essential to accurate representation, allocation of resources and to gauge how our community continues to grow," said the Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus, vice president of social justice for the NHCLC, in an April 23 statement.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops weighed in on the issue on April 27, saying it is partnering with the U.S. Census Bureau to encourage participation, including in communities traditionally difficult to count.

"It is in peoples' best interest to be counted," said the Rev. Allan F. Deck, executive director of the bishops' cultural diversity department. "This is how our country makes decisions about allocation of resources and local representation, regardless race or immigration status."

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Kaisen

Posted: May 01, 2009 12:27 AM


We went through the census debate 10 years ago, nothing has improved since. But tell me why is this article in CT?

Angelo Falcón

Posted: April 30, 2009 8:35 PM

The US Constitution calls for a census of all inhabitants of the United States, regardless of citizenship status. Those who advocate the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from this count of the US population are advocating violating the US Constitution. This could bring a fine of up to $100. That's the law. From a Christian point of view, I think it would be wrong to consider any human being to be "illegal". The need is to treat everyone humanely and develop policies that held the citizens of the United States AND those who are here as immigrants, documented or not. The vicousness of the comments made above are un-Christian like and those making them should be ashamed, especially in citing God to make such bigotted points. I am sorry to see that Christianity Today would even post such racist comments.

Salero21

Posted: April 30, 2009 8:16 PM

I am a Hispanic myself, but the term "Latino", over the years ran parallel with dubious behaviors. I’ve heard the term mostly as a form of racial bias and pride. There's never been a nation with a name that could have given rise to the adjective. Most of the people who use the term to self describe. To my knowledge, neither speak, read, or write Latin. They also appear ignorant of the fact that Brazilians can also be such. I’ve heard the claim that is because of the language. However the same, ignore the fact that among the languages evolved from Latin; the Romanian is one of them. So we have, 2 arguable facts. First, the Romanian language evolved from Latin. Second, the Brazilians, can also be "Latinos" if any. Remember Helio Castroneves in DWTS! He was ask if being Latin would help his dancing. The Coalition of "Latino" clergy IMHO need to get over themselves and start preaching, living according to a true Paradigm instead of superfluous labels like "Latinos".

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