City officials: Blocked DOJ funding ‘political extortion’

Yes they should, here is why;

First and foremost, undocumented immigrants pay taxes, and are an integral part of the local and national economy, whether you would like to believe it or not. They work very low end as well as very high end job positions that allow the state to function.

Second, private businesses operating in the state that get business from or provide services for undocumented immigrants will lose out if the census is incorrect, because they will be missing out on federal financial benefits based on an accurate portrayal of the community they provide for. For example, the census indicates your business is providing for a smaller number of individuals than it actually is, you lose benefits, you lose public infrastructure, everyone you serve gets fucked and so do you. Public sector services like healthcare and law enforcement will be fucked over even harder with an inaccurate count of the actual people living in the city, as they will receive federal funding for a lower population than is actually present, i.e. getting money to work with/support a community of 50,000 when the reality is more like 100,000 means you will be perpetually short staffed and underfunded.

EVERYONE benefits from an accurate census count, whether the people being counted are undocumented or homeless etc, because even though these people are driven to the edges of society they are still present in communities and have something to offer to the community in terms of the services they take use of, public and private. The census is about distribution of power, and in some ways is an even more integral part of civic engagement than voting is, but people often don't take it seriously. The federal administration trying to skew the census numbers with sudden mass deportations means they are taking money that NM is owed on a federal level, they are literally stealing funding for the state and the city. It is unacceptable.

LOL