Census Catch 22

   Some 68 years ago, the U.S. Census stopped asking citizenship status in its detailed count of the population of the country. Now suddenly the government wants to reinstate that question, arguing that it's needed to guarantee an accurate count for voting rights.
   The suddenness of that decision by the Commerce Department, after repeated warnings by the government to track down and deport people in the country illegally, sent warning flags waving and brought instant legal challenges by several states.
   The challengers point out that if residents identify themselves as non-citizens, that information will be immediately forwarded to immigration authorities, and lead to rapid deportation.
   An accurate census of the population is important for many reasons, including legislative districting, health and education policies, police protection and other reasons.
   However, if non-citizens -- legal or otherwise -- face deportation if they answer the question truthfully, they will either ignore the questionnaire entirely or they will lie.
   Separately, local police rely on the cooperation of all residents in reporting and finding criminals. If the Census Bureau forwards information identifying non-citizens -- legal or otherwise -- to the immigration cops, many law abiding people will not only lose police protection but will face deportation.
   
   Meanwhile, there is an economic issue to be dealt with. The current administration has been making a lot of noise about deporting illegals, and limiting newcomers to those with high education and high skills. But many newcomers to America take jobs that skilled, highly educated citizens don't want and won't take.
   If immigration is limited to highly skilled folk, the shortage of health care aides will worsen, as well as a shortage of unskilled jobs in agriculture, building maintenance, construction, road work and many other fields.
   Rudimentary economics stipulates that a shortage of workers means higher wages, which not only raises costs to consumers but also attracts more workers. In this case, it's not likely that college graduates will take jobs as janitors or health care aides in nursing homes unless no other jobs are available. And when no skilled jobs are available, that's a symptom of economic recession.
   Nonetheless, health care workers are always needed, and if highly educated, skilled citizens won't take them, newcomers will.
   So rather than resolve a so-called immigration "problem," such keep-out tactics will only worsen problems for those needing workers in nursing homes, building maintenance and other essential jobs that many won't take.