The recent anti-immigrant legislation has dismayed [undocumented] Mexican families in New York. They fear that information they provided to the 2010 Census will help authorities to find them.

"We feel that we aren't safe since that law in Arizona was passed," said Miguel Santos, a family man who did not return the 2010 Census form.

"We don't trust the Census so we didn't fill it out," said the immigrant father, originally from Hidalgo, Mexico. He currently lives in Queens.

Other Mexican workers said they moved to new addresses as a precaution.

"I did fill it out," said Omar Paredes, an immigrant from Poza Rica in Veracruz. He said that he moved out of fear that laws like the one passed in Arizona could be implemented in other parts of the country.

Paredes said he is suspicious of the recent measure: "Things are getting worse. Laws like that scare people and make them live in fear. And with respect to immigration reform, to date, nothing is clear."

No risk

By law, information provided to the Census office is confidential and is not sent to any other federal agency. Filling out the Census form and sending it in does not pose a risk to anyone.