The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC is discussing demographic changes in Westchester County this hour as part of its “anecdotal census” series. Scheduled guests are County Exec Rob Astorino, SUNY Purchase Prof Lisa Keller and Teresita Wisell of WCC’s Gateway project.

Tune in or see the online conversation here.

Another thing about the Republican platform: It calls for changing the 2010 Census so that only legal residents of the United States would be counted.

Michigan Republican Candice Miller has proposed a constitutional amendment to that effect, AP reports. The Census Bureau counts everyone regardless of immigration status.

In the GOP’s discussion of immigration, the platform also states that “allowing millions of unidentified persons to enter and remain in this country poses grave risks to the sovereignty of the United States and the security of its people.”

As for the question of legalizing the undocumented:

We oppose amnesty. The rule of law suffers if government policies encourage or reward illegal activity. The American people’s rejection of en masse legalizations is especially appropriate given the federal government’s past failures to enforce the law.

The GOP would also deny federal funds to “self-described sanctuary cities” and reject in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. The platform, America’s Voice points out, is quite at odds with John McCain’s record on immigration.

The 2008 Democratic platform discusses immigration not as part of a national security discussion but under the heading, “Renewing the American Community.” In favoring a legalization program, it uses a term that seems designed to reject the amnesty label. Instead of “allowing” immigrants to legalize, the Democrats would “require” them to do so:

For the millions living here illegally but otherwise playing by the rules, we must require them to come out of the shadows and get right with the law. We support a system that requires undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, pay taxes, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens. They are our neighbors, and we can help them become full tax-paying law-abiding, productive members of society.

The Democratic platform also criticizes recent raids:

It’s a problem when we only enforce our laws against the immigrants themselves, with raids that are ineffective, tear apart families, and leave people detained without adequate access to counsel.

(Photo: AP)

A new batch of census data is out today showing population growth among race and ethnic groups across the country. Since 2000, the U.S. population has grown by less than 2 percent, but the Hispanic population has grown by 10 percent and the number of Asians has grown 21 percent. Hispanics now account for 15 percent of the nation’s population, and 16 percent of New York’s.

Here in NY, we’re getting older as a group. The median age, which was 36 in 2000, is now almost 38. Baby boomers are bringing higher numbers to the 45- to 69-year-old age bracket, and there’s a large increase in the number of New Yorkers who are 80 and older, reports Cathey O’Donnell of our data desk.
Meanwhile it’s not too early to talk about the Census Bureau’s decennial headcount in 2010. Two New Yorkers were added to the race and ethnic advisory committees that monitor the process: Angelo Falcón, president of the National Institute for Latino Policy, and Pyong Gap Min, a sociology professor at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center. They will serve, respectively, on the Hispanic Advisory Committee and Asian Advisory Committee, each of which have nine members.

Those committees, scheduled to meet this week at the Census Bureau’s Maryland HQ, have a lot to talk about. The Hispanic Advisory Committee has already voiced concern on the need to get immigrants to participate in the 2010 count, despite what it called a climate of mistrust toward government and intolerance for diversity. And a scaled-back dress rehearsal is raising further concern that the count will miss immigrants, military members, college students and others.