LOCAL : Census Taboo on Aliens Draws Fire
City and immigrant rights leaders expressed outrage today over a U.S. Senate vote to bar the Census Bureau from counting illegal aliens in the 1990 population count, which could have both economic and political impacts on California.
Mayor Tom Bradley and City Council members Gloria Molina and Richard Alatorre joined leaders of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles at a City Hall news conference to call for a presidential veto if necessary of the Senate’s action in passing the “Shelby Amendment.”
The officials said the prohibition could cost the state about $300 million and the city as much as $25 million in federal funds if the aliens are not counted. The state could also lose six or seven congressional seats.
In a voice vote on Friday, the Senate approved an amendment by Sen. Richard C. Shelby (D-Ala.) that would bar the use of federal funds to count illegal aliens for the purpose of congressional reapportionment.
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