Award-winning radio show host Brenda Lee Huerta has been prominently featuring Census 2010 on La Tremenda AM 1530 for weeks. (Photo: RGG/Bill Rovira)

McALLEN, Jan. 28 - If you have a dinner at your house, send out invitations, receive 20 RSVP’s and prepare accordingly, what do you do if 50 people show up to eat?

That was the $400 billion question that Efren Salinas, media specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau, put out to the Spanish language listeners of Brenda Lee Huerta’s live radio show on Univision Radio, La Tremenda AM 1530.

“That is essentially what happens if you undercount your population during a census. You have more people needing services than resources to serve them. The constitution requires that everyone living in the United States be counted, not just citizens, but everyone living here. The census determines not only your representation in Congress but your share of approximately $400 billion in services,” Salinas said.

Congressman Henry Cuellar called into Huerta’s show to underscore the importance of the census.

“The final numbers we tabulate in this year’s census we will have to live with for the next ten years, so it is very important that we get an accurate count, especially here in the border where we have so many needs in education, health care, education and transport,” Cuellar told listeners. “Another important facet of the census is that we are expecting to gain at least three and as many as four more representatives in Congress if we count everyone.”

Cuellar said the changing demographics in America demands that Hispanics be counted.

“We must realize that in the last ten years 70 percent of the population growth in Texas was among Hispanics. We are not yet the majority in the whole state but we are rapidly heading in that direction. Currently we compose about 35 percent of the state’s population,” said Cuellar.

Huerta challenged Salinas for the benefit of possible skeptical, census-wary listeners with the following question: “Some listeners have asked me why one of the questions on the census asks for the names of all persons living in a household. That question tends to generate suspicion that their names will be turned into the Border Patrol and expose them to deportation. How would you respond (to that concern)?”

”All personal information gathered by the census is absolutely confidential and cannot be shared with any person or entity outside the Census Bureau. The penalty for disclosing confidential information by any Census Bureau is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Information is not shared with any agency, not Immigration, not the police, no other agency. All information is gathered strictly for statistical purposes,” Salinas responded.

Huerta brought to the surface another fear of colonia residents in regard to census takers—imposters or pseudo officials who are not really from the census but who knock on the door with an ulterior motive.

“We recently had an incident where a well-dressed man in a late model car called on a home of an elderly couple saying he was from Medicare and wanted to update their information to increase their benefits. He obtained their social security numbers and other information and left promising to send their benefits by mail. That was the last they heard of him. He refused to show any kind of personal identification. These are the kinds of concerns that people in the community have,” said Huerta.

“In the first place you don’t have to talk to anyone if they come to your door. You can take the survey and return it in the mail. If you do choose to talk to the surveyor they carry a badge to identify themselves. People also have the right to call the census-taker’s supervisor to verify their legitimacy. A census bureau employee should also be carrying a pouch with the logo of the Census Bureau and the corresponding forms associated with the census. Again, if someone is still skeptical they don’t have to talk to the census-taker, they can just accept the forms and return them in the mail.”

The census is also providing thousands of jobs for residents in the Rio Grande Valley, jobs paying over $10 per hour in times of high unemployment, and jobs where one can do something positive in his or her own Colonia. Just call 866-861-2010 to apply.

“We are looking for people from the Valley from the same colonias being surveyed so that we don’t have to bring in people from the outside. The only requirements are that you be 18 years of age, have a valid driver’s license, speak and write English and be a U.S. citizen, although the last requirement is more of a preference than an absolute,” Salinas said.

“Training is in English but we need people that are bilingual because of our population in this area. There is a written exam that you have thirty minutes to complete. Hours are flexible. You can still work a full-time job and be a census-taker on week-ends or evenings or whatever fits your schedule.”

The Web site for census jobs is www.2010censusjobs.com.

Huerta asked if census forms arrive by mail to a PO Box or to a rural route. “Forms will arrive to a rural route box but not to a PO Box address inside a post office,” Salinas answered.

Some members of the immigrant community have the perception that all government agencies share information that can result in their deportation; that an interview by a social worker or census taker will end up with the Border Patrol. Salinas skillfully addressed this concern.

“As we have discussed, all census information is completely confidential and is not shared. If someone cannot accept that basic premise then they should understand that there is nothing at all within the questionnaire that asks anything at all about their immigration status, how long they’ve been in the country, anything that could put them in the sights of the Border Patrol or Immigration. There are no questions about how long you have been at your address, how did you arrive, do you have residency, are you a citizen? There is no question that would put you in any danger of immigration problems,” Salinas said.

The questions that actually are asked are:

1)      Your age

2)       Your gender

3)      Are you of Hispanic origin?

4)      Your race (you yourself can write it that you are from Mexico, El Salvador

5)       Your relationship with the main person in the household if that person is not filling out the survey

6)      Are you buying or renting the house?

7)      How many people live in the household?

8)       And if you have a relative or other person living behind the house in a room, that person should be counted too.

Huerta expressed another common concern of her Hispanic audience: “I’ve had concerns expressed to me by listeners that if they tell a census taker how many people are really living in the house, let’s say there are five when a lease only permits two that they might get in trouble with the landlord by giving this information to a census-taker.”

The ever-on-his-toes Salinas responded:  “That information could not get back to the landlord because of its confidentiality. Not even the President of the United States can ask who lives in a given house and what their names are. The only information given is a statistical analysis without names or addresses.”

A possible concern from a less than reputable landlord that has possibly constructed some rental units without the appropriate permits and is renting to ten or 15 people behind his residence might be reluctant to talk to the census-taker about how many people are actually living on his property. To that possible scenario Salinas again capably responded: “The answer is very short and sweet. By law we are required to maintain complete confidentiality, even when we see situations that are perhaps doubtful or improper. That is how strict the confidentiality laws are.”

Write Bill Rovira

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