Illegal aliens and census counts

Abstract

This paper examines the issue of including illegal aliens in the 1990 US census counts. It considers the demographic economic and social contexts within which this question arises as well as the legal history of the issue. The number of undocumented aliens living in the US in 1980 while substantial fell considerably below the numbers often thought to have been residing in the US at the time. A number of studies show that the impact of undocumented immigration on the employment and wages of other groups in the US is uncertain in its direction and insubstantial in magnitude. To the extent that questions about including the number of illegal aliens in census counts emerge from concerns about the economic impact of undocumented aliens on the American economy the research evidence indicates that the problem is not as great as many have thought. Anti-immigrant sentiments appear to have grown and illegal immigrants are increasingly viewed as contributing to the development of economic problems. There is also the perception that illegal aliens benefit from social services to which they are not entitled and for which they do not pay. Academic analysts have found that undocumented aliens do not use these services extensively and that their tax contributions equal and often exceed the value of the services they receive. It is also unclear what effect the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 will have on the size of the undocumented alien population in 1990. Historically concern over whether illegal aliens should be included in census counts has arisen when it was thought that the nation was experiencing social and economic problems. In legal terms the issue of including illegal aliens in census counts involves how to define the "persons" that the census is required to enumerate. Several times Congress has reviewed the policy of including undocumented aliens in the census and it has always been considered unconstitutional to exclude undocumented aliens. If for no other reason than that a constitutional amendment is always a legal possibility the demographic features and economic consequences of illegal immigration are relevant to if not decisive for resolving the question. In the case of the 1990 census both legal and practical reasons suggest that illegal aliens should be enumerated according to the same rules as the rest of the population.