[LAPhil]

This issue may not be as simple as it sounds. On one hand, most of us (if not all of us) would agree that illegals should not be counted in the census if it meant giving them equal representation in the system. However there are at least two problems with this. The first is that like it or not, they are here and they do share in the resources provided by the infrastructure and there's no way to separate them from the legal residents. Allocation of government funding and resources are often based on population statistics, e.g., education and medical services, and infrastructure, e.g., electricity, water, and gas. For example, if the government was to cut California's funding because of the large number of illegal aliens we would all suffer because there would be less for everyone.

The other problem is identifying the illegals to begin with. How does the Census Bureau know who is here legally and who isn't? Are they going to come to everyone's residence and check the green cards of all the Hispanic respondents? Obviously they can't do this because it would be considered racially profiling and would not be tolerated. The only way around this would be for them to ask for proof of residence from all respondents, and that would be completely impractical.

I would therefore have to say that there is really no practical way to eliminate the counting of illegals in the census at this time, as much as I wish there were. The only solution would have to be deportation, either voluntarily or otherwise.