Immigration activists urge census boycott

The Boston Globe reports:

A small but vocal group of advocates is urging illegal immigrants and their supporters nationwide to boycott the 2010 Census to protest the government’s inaction on immigration legislation, a move that, if successful, could cost Massachusetts and other states millions of dollars.

The campaign is setting off alarms across the United States because census figures are crucial to determining how much federal funding cities and towns receive. A large-scale boycott, state officials and prominent pro-immigrant groups warn, could force Massachusetts to cut services from school lunch programs to highway construction, and heighten its chances of losing a seat in Congress.

But proponents say the boycott would pressure politicians to address problems illegal immigrants face every day - such as long separations from their families back home - and pursue a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s immigration system that would provide a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants.

“Legalize us before you count us,’’ Fausto da Rocha, a Brazilian immigrant leader in Boston said on a talk-radio show in Quincy last week, where callers from as far away as Brunswick, Maine, expressed support for the boycott. “Politics is about power and money, and by not giving your information, you’ll be taking away money and power from the politicians.’’