I've got a better idea -- let's step up immigration raids now and continue them at a high pace all the way through the census.

The Census Bureau wants immigration agents to suspend enforcement raids during the 2010 census so the government can better count illegal immigrants.

Raids during the population count would make an already distrustful group even less likely to cooperate with government workers who are supposed to include them, the Census Bureau's second-ranking official said in an Associated Press interview.

Deputy Director Preston Jay Waite said immigration enforcement officials did not conduct raids for several months before and after the 2000 census. But today's political climate is even more volatile on the issue of illegal immigration.

Enforcement agents "have a job to do," Waite said. "They may not be able to give us as much of a break" in 2010.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman declined to say whether immigration officials would halt raids. "If we were, we wouldn't talk about it," Pat Reilly said.

"For us to suspend that enforcement would probably take a lot more than one meeting," Reilly said. "We would have to discuss this at the highest levels of both agencies."

Why do i suggest stepping up the raids instead of slowing them down? Two reasons.

1) Enforcing our nation's laws and securing our borders should be a priority. If we do enough to enforce the law and rid ourselves of some of the immigration criminals, we might just luck out and have more leave voluntarily before they are caught and deported.

2) Given that the Census is used to fund federal programs and congressional representation, the more immigration criminals we can rid ourselves of the better. Border jumpers should not be getting government services or political representation. After all, they are not even legitimately here. Not only do I not care if they are under-counted, I don't believe they should count at all in any government formula.

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