by Mary L.G. Theroux, The Independent Institute

The current $350 million ad campaign for the 2010 Census, including the much-maligned $2.5 million Super Bowl spots, urges individuals to “Tell your story.” The Census Bureau is particularly eager for minorities and illegal immigrants to do so, as they are traditionally believed to be the most undercounted.

Yet widespread non-compliance, especially among those most likely to be discriminated against by a majority, may not be rooted strictly in the “ignorance” the ads are designed to overcome. History—including very recent history—shows that the information provided to the Census can be used against you.

The most recent examples occurred in 2002 and 2003, when the Census Bureau turned over information it had collected about Arab-Americans to Homeland Security.

Data from the 1940 Census was used to intern Japanese, Italian, and German Americans following the U.S.’s entry into the war, and to monitor and persecute others who escaped internment. In addition to providing geographic information to the War Department, the Census Bureau released the name, address, age, sex, citizenship status and occupation of Japanese Americans in the Washington, D.C., area to the Treasury Department in response to anunspecified threat against President Franklin Roosevelt in 1943.

There may well be other instances of such data sharing of which we remain unaware, as the full scope of the personal information released during World War II has only recently been brought to light.

Thus, while the Census Bureau assures us that “your confidentiality is protected. Title 13 requires the Census Bureau to keep all information about you and all other respondents strictly confidential,” these exceptions negate such assurances. Of course, the release of the “strictly confidential” data was also perfectly legal: during World War II, under the terms of the Second War Powers Act, and more recently, under the terms of the USA PATRIOT Act, now extended by the Obama administration.

In preparation for this year’s census, 140,000 workers were hired to collect GPS readings for every front door in the nation. Such pinpoint precision will certainly simplify the process of locating any individual or group that may be identified as a threat to “national security” in the future. Remember, for example, the 1976 Senate Report in which 26,000 Americans were slated for roundup by the FBI in the event of a national emergency at the height of the Cold War. Now that the U.S. Government’s Terrorist Watchlist has exceeded one million, the GPS data acquired could be instrumental in accomplishing such a roundup.

Meanwhile, the data is also shared a little more broadly than advertised. Stanford University recently joined UC Berkeley, Duke, the University of Michigan, UCLA, and others in having its very own census data center. As the director of the new center explained, “The Census Bureau is very interested in making the centers more accessible to scholars who can use the data they provide.”

As Henry Brady, dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and principal investigator for the California Census Research Data Centers helpfully added: “We’re trying to make centers where lots of federal agencies will let us use their data.”

While reassurances are repeated that the data is held under the strictest security, and will only be used for innocuous projects like “government programs and solutions to our problems,” do we really want academics to social engineer policy solutions based on sensitive personal data? After all, they may turn out to be no more desirable than the “solutions” provided by government programs like internment and renditioning. Without the protections afforded by a right to privacy, there’s little chance of escaping a political will to enforce discriminatory policies.

This “mission creep” for the Census thus pushes up against a level of discomfort no amount of advertising dollars can likely assuage. Many will no doubt choose to follow former Senate majority leader Trent Lott’s advice to skip any Census questions they feel violates their privacy—which may well include any exceeding the Constitution’s mandate for an “actual Enumeration.” Unfortunately, choosing privacy now costs more: legislation recently passed raises the fine for “anyone over 18 years old who refuses or willfully neglects to complete the questionnaire or answer questions posed by census takers” from a limit of $100 to $5,000—a fact not advertised even in the small print.

by Nicholas Ballasy

(CNSNews.com) - The acting director of the U.S. Census Bureau, Thomas Mesenbourg, told CNSNews.com that the bureau intends to work with community organizations to make sure every illegal alien in the United States is counted in the 2010 Census.

The Census is used to apportion the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. There are 435 House seats that are divided among the states in proportion to their population, which is determined by the decennial census. States with more people get more seats in the U.S. House.

This means that a state harboring more illegal aliens can gain more House seats as long as the Census Bureau finds the illegal aliens and counts them. This also means that the illegal alien population resident in the United States during a census year has the potential to alter the regional and philosophical balance of power in Congress.

Mesenbourg’s comments were made after a press conference on Wednesday where Commerce Secretary Gary Locke joined several interest groups, including Univision, the National Council of La Raza, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) to talk about efforts to ensure a full count of Latinos in the 2010 Census.

When asked whether he intended to maximize the count of illegal aliens in next year’s census, Mesenburg said: “Our job is to count everyone that resides in the U.S.–count them once. So, certainly that’s our goal to count every individual, every resident whether they’re documented, undocumented, whether they are citizens or non-citizens.”

He said local community organizations will play a key role in making sure all illegal immigrants are counted.

“The local communities are going to have a strong partnership program in each of the local communities, and we’re going to focus on the hard to count geographic areas. That typically has been areas with high numbers of undocumented workers but it’s much more diverse than that,” he said.

“So, what we’ll do is we’ll have Census Bureau folks out in those neighborhoods recruiting community organizations, faith-based organizations, and local media to get that message out that it’s safe, it’s easy, and it’s important to file your 2010 Census form,” said Mesenbourg.

Mesenbourg also said the Census Bureau intended to reach out to illegal aliens through local organizations that the aliens see as “trusted” voices to let them know it is safe to cooperate with the Census Bureau in being counted.

“It’s more than just the Census Bureau telling them that it’s safe,” said Mesenbourg. “We need somebody that they view as a trusted voice–somebody from that community, whether perhaps the local pastor or somebody in a community organization that can assure them that it’s safe.”

“One way to improve the safety is you get a census form, fill it out, return it by mail and no one will come knocking on your door after that,” he said.

The forms Mesenbourg referenced are available on the Census Bureau’s Web site. They do not require a Social Security number to be completed and counted.

Both English and bilingual versions of the census form are available fordownloading in PDF form from the Census Bureau’s website.

Mesenbourg explained why he and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke attended the event with several Latino special interest groups.

“Well, getting a full and accurate count is job number one for us,” said Mesenbourg. “The secretary recognizes that and we recognize that the Census Bureau and the Department Commerce alone can’t carry out a successful census.”

“We need to partner with organizations that are viewed as trusted voices in their local community, and certainly this coalition’s going to go a far way in terms of accomplishing that goal,” he said.

The executive director of the NALEO Educational Fund, Arturo Vargas, said they want to make sure every single person who resides in the county is counted.

“You know the census is something that’s required by the United States Constitution, and the Constitution says that it should be an enumeration all persons. So, we want to make sure that every single person who resides in this country gets enumerated,” Vargas told CNSNews.com during the press conference.

Ruben Keoseyan, publisher of the newspaper La Raza, said the organizations at the press conference have partnered with the Census Bureau to help undocumented immigrants “come out and register” for the census.

“This is not just a partnership among the people that you see here,” said Keoseyan. “This is also a partnership with the Census Bureau because we believe that we can aid in helping those people come out and register and participate in the census. It’s a much easier form. It’s going to be in Spanish.”

“It will be a bilingual form which we will replicate in our publications, but most importantly it’ll be a pencil and paper type of thing and we will be there to support this,” he said. “But if the Census Bureau and the federal government doesn’t support the efforts and the trust that we’re going to have put out there to have people believe in what we’re trying to get there.”

Below is the full transcript of the interview with the acting director of the U.S. Census Bureau Thomas L. Mesenbourg:

CNSNews.com: “Do you want to maximize the counting of illegal immigrants in the 2010 Census?”

Mesenbourg: “Our job is to count everyone that resides in the U.S. Count them once. So, certainly that’s our goal to count every individual, every resident whether they’re documented, undocumented, whether they are citizens or non-citizens.”

CNSNews.com: “Why do you think the commerce secretary and you as well came to this event?”

Mesenbourg: “Well, getting a full and accurate count is job number one for us. The secretary recognizes that and we recognize that the Census Bureau and the Department of Commerce alone can’t carry out a successful census. We need to partner with organizations that are viewed as trusted voices in their local community and certainly this coalition’s going to go a far way in terms of accomplishing that goal.”

CNSNews.com: “They had mentioned during the actual event, local communities and their role in counting. How does that relate to the illegal immigrant counting in the census?”

Mesenbourg: “Well, the local communities are going to have a strong partnership program in each of the local communities and we’re going to focus on the hard to count geographic areas. That typically has been areas with high numbers of undocumented workers, but it’s much more diverse than that. So, what we’ll do is we’ll have Census Bureau folks out in those neighborhoods recruiting community organizations, faith-based organizations, and local media to get that message out that it’s safe, it’s easy and it’s important to file your 2010 census form.”

CNSNews.com: “I imagine it must be difficult counting them if they think it’s not safe.”

Mesenbourg: “Yeah, and it’s more than just the Census Bureau telling them that it’s safe. We need somebody that they view as a trusted voice–somebody from that community, whether perhaps the local pastor or somebody in a community organization that can assure them that it’s safe. One way to improve the safety is you get a census form, fill it out, return it by mail, and no one will come knocking on your door after that.”