Hard to Count? The 2020 Census “Citizenship Question” and Bureaucratic Visibility among Undocumented Latin Americans in Chicago

Census enumeration distributes resources and power and extends potential surveillance and punishment. Given these dual capacities, attempts to insert a citizenship question on the 2020 US Census heightened expectations of depressed participation among undocumented immigrants. We draw on data from 63 undocumented Latin American residents of Chicago to understand decision-making processes across 15 months of enumeration. Analyzing two interview waves conducted before and during the count (N=126), we find broad census uptake despite widespread perceptions of threat. Respondents situated themselves as invested community members embedded in state systems and explained census participation as a claim for investment in neighborhoods and families as well as recognition of their existence. Contributing to the concept of bureaucratic visibility, this article extends scholarship on system avoidance to illuminate how undocumented immigrants engage the bureaucratic arm of the state and navigate the contradiction of being counted by a government committed to their forced removal.