Protecting illegals

The start of each new decade launches a federal head count. Census workers want every person accounted for, even if they're in the United States illegally.

So when the state launches an $866,000 advertising blitz to encourage residents to complete their questionnaires, "a big part of the campaign will be aimed at Spanish-language speakers," said David Byerman, the U.S. Commerce Department employee in charge of Nevada's census operation.

Mr. Byerman wants to assure illegals that their participation will remain confidential, and that police and immigration authorities won't have access to Census data.

It goes without saying that even if Homeland Security could look at questionnaires, last week's failure to apprehend a Nigerian terrorist shows they wouldn't make the slightest effort to identify illegals or communicate with another bureaucracy, assuming they knew how to pick up a phone.

This census boondoggle is another example of political correctness run amok in government. Bean counters are so preoccupied with the nuances of federal budgeting and reapportioning congressional representation that they're open about refusing to identify anyone violating immigration laws.

If this country is ever going to solve its illegal immigration problem -- a pressing policy issue with huge fiscal and social consequences for all levels of government -- the least the census can do is nail down the number of people here illegally, and tabulate the costs they impose on taxpayers.

That our government's infatuation with statistics doesn't extend to upholding the integrity of citizenship speaks volumes about its collective lack of common sense.