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Tuesday, October 26, 1999
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EFE Agency
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Gerardo Vázquez
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U.S. Census Bureau assures that the census data will not be shared with INS
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Washington D.C. - Starting Monday, social workers from farmer services agencies promote the participation of California rural communities in the Census 2000. Carmen López, a U.S. Census Bureau representative, explained that one of the main tasks is that of dispelling the farmers’ doubts and fears regarding the purpose and the method of counting the American population.
Many agricultural workers do not take part in the national census because “they are afraid that the information they give census takers will end up in the hands of the Immigration Service,” explained López. On the other hand, a spokesperson for the Regional Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Virginia Kice, said that her agency has made an agreement with the U. S. Census Bureau too suspend all raids in the places where the census counts are being taken.
It must be noted that the Census Bureau relies on the community development work of the California Rural Legal Defense Agency, trusted by farm workers. Social workers from this legal aid agency regularly visit farmers at their places of work even at three o’clock in the morning, the beginning of their work day.
Lupe Quintero, from Rural Legal Defense, said that in Southern California there are farm workers who have not received census questionnaires in the past three decades and, therefore, have remained as an invisible group in this country.
The Census Bureau has launched a multicultural campaign, targeting minority populations, in order to explain how the results of the census, which is carried out in accordance with the Constitution, are used to designate new electoral districts and to develop the budget that supports housing, educational, and heath programs as well as other benefits.
Source: Published on October 26, 1999, Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
Copyright © 1999.
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