Fears that the information illegal immigrants give to the census could lead to their deportation is partly responsible for Latinos being undercounted in the 2000 Census by an estimated 3 percent.
This year, a prominent Latino evangelical preacher with a radio show in 11 markets is encouraging undocumented immigrants to boycott the census to protest the lack of immigration reform. And a Mexican-American political organization has called for all Hispanics to boycott it.
Against that backdrop, a coalition of prominent Latinos kicked off a nationwide campaign Thursday urging people to fill out the 2010 census forms.
The 47 million Hispanics living in the U.S. comprise the nation's largest minority group. As part of an unprecedented outreach to Hispanics, the Census Bureau for the first time will send bilingual forms to largely Hispanic areas. A host of Latino organizations are telling people that the census will help get more federal funds for their communities, potentially more Latinos in elective office and also more say in immigration laws.
