WE ARE WRITING in response to the June 6 story by Karen Lee Ziner, “Down for the count: Minister urges undocumented to boycott Census” and to oppose the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and/or any local or national movements that urge the undocumented-immigrant members of the Latino community to boycott the 2010 Census until Congress achieves comprehensive immigration reform.

While we understand the motive, we can’t agree with the method. While the boycott may be well intended, it ultimately will prove to be misguided and irresponsible because it will hurt the very immigrant communities the ministers are trying to defend.

For many years, we as Latino leaders — as trusted voices in our community — have joined local politicians in encouraging the undocumented to participate in the census. We have gone out of our way to convey the message that undocumented immigrants need not fear census workers and that federal law prohibits the Census Bureau from sharing information with immigration authorities.

As community leaders we want everyone to be counted because census results will be used later to determine how billions of federal dollars are allocated among states, municipalities and even local community- service organizations. Here is why:

The census affects funding in your community. Census data directly affect how more than $300 billion a year in federal and state funding is allocated to communities for neighborhood improvements, public health, education, transportation and much more. That’s more than $3 trillion over a 10-year period. Spending just a few minutes to fill out your census form will help ensure that our community gets its fair share of federal and state funding.

The census affects your voice in Congress. Mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the census is used to apportion seats in the U.S. House and to redistrict state legislatures.

The census affects your representation in state and local government. Census data are used to define legislative districts, school-district assignment areas and other important functional areas of government.

The census informs your community’s decisions. The census is like a snapshot that helps define who we are as a nation. Data about changes in your community are crucial to many planning decisions, such as where to provide services for the elderly, where to build new roads and schools, or where to locate job training centers.

The census is confidential. Your responses are protected by law (Title 13, U.S. Code, Section 9). All Census Bureau employees have taken an oath to protect confidentiality and are subject to a jail term, a fine or both for disclosing any information that could identify a respondent or household.

The counting of immigrants would not be used against undocumented immigrants to increase arrests and harassment by local or federal law enforcement. All personal information is protected.

Can undocumented immigrants gain from participating in the census? Of course! There is no question that there is a lot to be gained from the results of the census. The higher the population of any particular area the more funding that area can expect from the federal government. Any area that is undercounted undoubtedly would lose its fair share of the federal budget.

For this reason, we encourage the undocumented, especially those living in the urban areas, to cooperate with census workers. Some federally funded agencies that provide services to undocumented immigrants could suffer budget cutbacks. As a population the Latino community must strive to ensure that we are counted – ¡Si no nos cuentan, no contamos! — If they don’t count us, we don’t count!

Doris M. De Los Santos is president of the Rhode Island Latino Civic Fund and the Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee. Juan Garcia is a member of the Immigrants Committee of St. Teresa’s Church, Providence.