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INS COMMISSIONER MEISSNER SAYS INS WILL LAY LOW DURING CENSUS COUNT OF IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
During a hearing on the INS budget for fiscal year 2000, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) asked INS Commissioner Doris Meissner what the Service planned to do about the widespread fear in immigrant communities, both legal and illegal, that participation in the census will create negative immigration consequences. She told him that the INS planned to essentially avoid the communities where census counters are looking for people who did not fill out forms during the two-week period of their search.
Of course, this response, while satisfying some, concerned others, such as Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY) who worried that the plan would mean the INS would cease efforts to remove illegal immigrants. Meissner responded that "it is a fine line" between enforcing immigration laws and encouraging participation in the census, but that the INS would do all it could to tread it. 
Some wonder whether it would not be better if the INS just remained silent. Amin David, head of Los Amigos, a Los Angeles area community activist organization, worries that a vocal effort by the INS to say the agency is not involved in the census might be misinterpreted in the immigrant communities.