Cedillo Wants Undocumented Community Counted

During the Senate Floor Session today, Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, presented a Senate Resolution for “Be Counted Today,” supporting the census and census-related items.

Senator Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, stood up to be counted, as he asked that his fellow Senators appreciate the significance of  California getting the full count. “You can’t have the full count if you don’t count undocumented workers,” stated Cedillo.

Cedillo emphatically described the critical nature of everyone in California being counted in order for the state to fully realize  the benefits of the census, “in a safe, secure way that doesn’t place them in peril.”

Cedillo continued saying that this is the “first administration since Nixon” to simultaneously count people in the census and enforce the immigration laws, making it a conflict and putting undocumented workers in peril of deportation for participating in the census.

Cedillo called for a moratorium of immigration enforcement actions “so that the undocumented community can step forward and be counted” in California and participate in the census without fear.

Cedillo is known for his nine attempts to get bills passed in order to issue drivers licenses to illegal immigrants in California.

Senator Negrete-McLeod’s resolution was adopted,  33-0.

-Katy Grimes