So, I was doing my civic duty and filling out my Census 2010 packet this afternoon, and I noticed something interesting. According to the guidelines, there is no provision for omitting anyone of non-US citizenship. This basically means that if I have 30 illegal migrant help desk workers from Iceland sleeping in shifts in my 1,200 sq ft apartment, they are all required to be reported on the census in a way that does not distinguish them from naturalized US citizens... effectively adding false weight to my neighborhood in a decision-making process which not only decides congressional representation but funds disbursement.
Thinking that this was probably not the best approach to deciding representation or doling out government cheese, I phoned the nice people of the Census office. The phone representative confirmed that yes, in fact, non-US citizens will be counted in the census and the resulting statistics will drive decisions on congressional district formation and disbursement of government funds.
Awesome.
