Wicker "completely opposed" to counting illegal aliens in 2010 Census

WTOK reports on Sen. Wicker's stance on counting illegal aliens in Census 2010:

Every decade, the U.S. Census is mailed to households nationwide. It helps the government make important decisions. But this time around, it's causing some controversy.

The roads you drive on are just one of the services that census dollars can fund. And as the clock counts down to census day, it ought to be an accurate count.

There's controversy brewing over who the census counts.

"I am completely opposed to counting illegal immigrants, illegal aliens in our census," said Sen. Roger Wicker.

Wicker said he fears that including illegal immigrants in a population count will skew political representation and federal money that states like Mississippi receive.

"If they broke the law to get here, they should not be counted," Wicker said.

Only the long form version of the census asks about citizenship. But only the short form version will be sent out in 2010.

The Census Bureau says it's required by law to count all everyone living in the United States.

"We need to know who people are, where they are living," said Bill Chandler of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance thinks it's important to count undocumented immigrants.

"They are working here. They pay payroll taxes. They pay sales taxes," said Chandler. "They do all the same things we do to contribute to the public funds."

You can expect to see a census form in your mailbox in February or March 2010. Sen. Wicker said he hopes Congress addresses the issue.