The idea of a federal anyone knocking on doors in our communities causes fear. With people of color communities targeted disproportionately by various Federal law enforcement agencies, undocumented families are especially wary of opening their doors with no signs from the Obama administration that Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids will stop. Pero how then do we accurately count how many people are in the United States?

U.S. Rep. William Clay (D.-Mo.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, “said he plans to ask the Obama administration to suspend immigration raids over the next year,” Fox News reported. “He wants the raids put on hold so illegal immigrants don’t worry that sharing accurate information with Census workers could somehow expose them to punishment, even deportation.”

One of the reasons I watch Spanish language news show like Al Punto is because weeks before the mainstream English language media will pick up on stuff, the Spanish language media is being used to talk to Latinos in the U.S. Weeks before this lawmaker made his statement, the U.S. government was using the Spanish language media to tell Latinos, immigrants especially, that the Census would not 1: be asking about immigration status and 2: sharing information with other agencies including the IRS and ICE.

My position on the immigrant detention and ICE raids is clear. They need to stop and not just so the Feds can have an idea of how many people live in the U.S., pero more importantly, because if Obama is serious about this, then real change needs to happen in an atmosphere without fear.

Via / Feet in 2 Worlds