Serrano: "Stand up and be Counted"

“These calls for a boycott of the Census by Latinos are just plain wrong, and do not serve our community’s best interest,” said Serrano. “We have worked so hard for so many years for our Latino voices to be heard, so these ideas are particularly troubling to me. The message for all Latinos across the nation – regardless of immigration status – is you must stand up and be counted.

“While I understand the frustration of many Latinos over the need for immigration reform, any attempted boycott will simply be misguided. Anti-immigrant advocates have already advocated attempting to exclude undocumented immigrants from census counts and from redistricting. By excluding ourselves, we give them a victory they don’t deserve.

“In addition, any type of Census boycott by Latinos will disproportionately harm Latinos, both documented and undocumented. By forcing an undercount of the Latino population, any boycott would end up hurting the Latino population. Resources and representation are apportioned to communities by population as recorded by the census, so a census boycott would only serve to strip funding and political power from our communities. We need more Latino representation in all levels of government—but the ability to do that ultimately comes from high numbers of Latinos accurately filling out Census forms.

“I can remember that prior to the 1990 Census, the Catholic Church urged undocumented immigrants not to participate in the Census. In the subsequent 10 years the Church realized the harm that this had caused, and they had no such message for Latinos in 2000. I hope that those advocating a boycott of the 2010 Census by Latinos take less time than that to figure out the true harm that would be caused.

“Our community needs all the support that it can get. We do that by taking part in the civic duties of the United States. If you are undocumented, you should be showing that you want to take part in all the rights and duties that a citizen would. Sending a message that you only want the benefits is the wrong idea. It is extremely counterproductive to our efforts to bring comprehensive immigration reform.”