ATLANTA — The census takes place every ten years - and it's crucial. Not just because it determines the size of each state's congressional delegation, but also how federal funds are divided.
This year's census has been underway for months, but now, President Donald Trump has signed a memo to try to keep undocumented immigrants from being counted.
Trump said in a statement Tuesday: "We will collect all of the information we need to conduct an accurate census and to make responsible decisions about public policy, voting rights, and representation in Congress."
Just last year, the Trump administration tried to add a citizenship question to the census, but the Supreme Court blocked it.
Immigration attorney Charles Kuck says this administration's latest move is unlikely to hold, and hard to implement.
"Georgia would be unwise to support not counting every human being in the country because we will lose representation in Washington in addition to losing billions of dollars in federal funding," Kuck said. "It's also virtually impossible since they can't ask someone on the census what their immigration status is."
The constitution directs congress to conduct a census to count all persons living in the U.S. It does not distinguish between citizens and non-citizens.
Kuck says obtaining legal status here isn't as simple as some might think, even if an immigrant is married to a U.S. citizen or have children in the U.S.
"Most people that are undocumented don't stay undocumented because they love being undocumented. They stay that way because they can't get documented," Kuck said.
As of 2016, nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the U.S. and contribute to our country's economy.
"Undocumented immigrants are contributing - not just to our industries with the sixteen billion dollars in the agriculture industry that are generated on the backs of undocumented immigrants - but also through the payment of taxes," GALEO executive director Jerry Gonzalez said.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found undocumented immigrants pay eight percent of their incomes in state and local taxes each year. Advocates worry Tuesday's memo will deter immigrants from responding to the census, and therefore lead to less funding.
"We cannot afford to be invisible for the future of our children, and the future resources that our children will have in their school systems, access to healthcare, access to food... We need to make sure that every single person is counted," Gonzalez said.