Vitter: We shouldn’t be counting illegals in the census

By including illegal immigrants in the new 2010 census population counts, Vitter contends the federal government is penalizing states that don’t “welcome” them.

“Louisiana stands to lose clout in Congress, while states that welcome illegal immigrants stand to unfairly benefit from artificially inflated population totals,” the Republican senator said in a statement Tuesday…

Census forms do not require residents to reveal their citizenship status, said Robert Bernstein, a public affairs specialist at the Census Bureau. “We made the attempt to count everyone who was actually residing here,” he said. “We don’t ask that question about someone’s legal status.”