MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel Nina Perales

McALLEN, April 6 - The Mexican American Legal and Educational Defense Fund has warned the U.S. Census Bureau that a “serious undercount” may take place in border colonias.

In a letter sent to Gabriel Sanchez, the Dallas-based regional director of the Census Bureau, MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel Nina Perales has asked for reassurances that colonia residents will not be overlooked, following the Bureau’s decision not to mail out census forms to the vast majority of colonia communities.

“There is a great deal of confusion right now in the colonias that will undoubtedly lead to a serious undercount of these areas,” Perales wrote, in a letter dated April 1.

One fourth of the households in Hidalgo County, nearly two-thirds of the homes in Starr County, and more than four out of five homes in Zapata County will not receive census questionnaires in the mail or in person, the Bureau has confirmed. Instead, the Census Bureau has started Operation Update/Enumerate. In Cameron County, Update/Enumerate work will not be as prevalent. Less than one in 30 homes will by visited by Update/Enumerate workers.

Update/Enumerate workers are census takers that walk through a community, updating the Census Bureau’s address list by listing every dwelling where people live or could live. They also knock on the door and collect responses to the 10 census questions on the spot. If there is no response or no one is home, the Census worker may return up to six times to collect the information.

Last week, Census Bureau Media Specialist Efren Salinas told the Guardian that 95 percent of colonia residents in the Rio Grande Valley would be counted through the Update/Enumerate method. There are thought to be about 250,000 colonia residents in the Valley.

MALDEF Staff Attorney Luis Figueroa said he was concerned that the Update/Enumerate plan was not explained soon enough to Rio Grande Valley elected officials and community groups that work in colonias. Their outreach strategy was based on colonia residents getting census forms in the mail.

“We are greatly disappointed that the information regarding the plans for an update/enumerate procedure was not communicated to local community leaders, Complete Count Committees, Census Partnership Specialists, or Census community partners at the beginning of the Census outreach campaign, despite the update/enumerate designation decisions being made over a year ago,” Figueroa said.

“But, we are hopeful that with an immediate corrective action, the Census Department can avert a severe undercount among hard-to-count Latinos and achieve a full and accurate count in the 2010 Census.”

Figueroa said MALDEF had “continuing concerns.” He listed these in an e-mail to the Guardian:

• Hidalgo County contains over 1,000 colonias
• Colonia residents are highly skeptical of government officials and strangers knocking on their doors and have been told for the past three to four months that they will receive a questionnaire by mail and could avoid a visit by submitting the form by mail.
• Colonias also have numerous physical obstacles, for block walking, particularly in Hidalgo County, including a large terrain, numerous fences, thousands of roaming dogs, security issues, hidden dwellings, and poor lighting.
• The Census has been unable to hire an adequate number of workers to conduct the update/enumerate procedure in Hidalgo County’s colonias.
The solution, Figueroa said, includes:
• Informing Census partner organizations and Census Partnership Specialists of the specific areas in Texas that have been designated for an update/enumerate procedure;
• Working with local organizations to complete the hiring process for Census workers who will conduct the update/enumerate procedure in colonias; and
• Conducting an intensive media outreach campaign to inform colonia residents of the safety and confidentiality of the update/enumerate procedure.

In her letter to Sanchez, Perales said MALDEF is committed to an accurate and complete census count to ensure Latino communities receive their fare share of public funds and political representation.

“Many hard-to-count Latinos, including the poor, undereducated, immigrants and limited English proficient, are wary of participating in the Census for various reasons,” Perales wrote. “These hard-to-count populations are highly concentrated in the colonias along the U.S.-Mexico border.”

Perales said she was “deeply concerned” about the confusion among Census employees and the “abrupt change” in announced plans to distribute census forms in the colonias of the border region, particularly in Hidalgo County. Perales cited a Guardian story from April 1 where Census employees were giving conflicting information to Valley reporters. Click here to read the story.

Perales also said that her group had heard from their community contacts in Hidalgo County that colonia residents who present themselves at Be Counted sites are told by Census staff that they cannot participate in the Census because their home addresses do not appear in the Census address file. “The refusal to count colonia residents with irregular addresses is unacceptable,” Perales wrote.

MALDEF plans to host an emergency meeting in the Valley to address the “confusion” and develop a strategy to “overcome these obstacles,” Perales wrote.

In order to provide accurate information and develop an effective strategy, Perales said MALDEF needed answers from the Census Bureau to five key questions.

The Guardian lists Perales’ five questions, along with Sanchez’s response:

Q) What are your criteria for deciding whether or not to mail Census questionnaires to colonia residents and how many colonia residents will not be mailed a Census questionnaire?

A) Update/Enumerate is our most expensive, labor-intensive and accurate field operation and is used in areas where we are concerned about the ability of the post office to get questionnaires delivered and (where) there are access challenges. It is traditionally used on many tribal reservations, colonias along the border and in other areas as needed. In Update/Enumerate we walk an areas, update our address list capturing every dwelling where people live or could live, and knock on the door enumerating on the spot. If there is no response or no one is home, the enumerator is slated to return up to six additional times to collect the information.

As you are well aware not all colonias are the same, depending on conditions, some will be mailed out/mailed back, some will be update/leave but the large majority will be counted via Update/Enumerate. These are the same methodologies that have been used for the last three decades and have always been part of the plan. The only thing that changes is which areas receive which type of enumeration. The areas and type of enumeration were finalized close to a year ago after results of our nationwide address canvassing operations.

Q) Are colonia residents entitled to pick up census questionnaires at Be Counted sites? If not, what is the reason that colonia residents are denied census questionnaires at Be Counted sites?

A) Yes they are, since the type of enumeration areas are mixed anyone is allowed to retrieve a questionnaire from a Be Counted site. The Be Counted program is intended for those that lose their questionnaire or believe they were not counted.

Q) In colonias, that do not have clear addresses or geographic boundaries, or in which the census address file does not reflect the current residencies, how has the Bureau ensured that Census workers visit every dwelling?

A) We conducted address-canvassing operations across the country to update our address list. Update/Enumerate operations capture addresses not on our address list rather than on the spot when we enumerate. The Update/Leave operation also does this when we drop off questionnaires. We receive updates from the Post Office and work with local governments to capture new permits and construction for Mail Out/Mail Back areas. Every address or dwelling we capture in our files is enumerated.

Q) If a Census worker conducting door-to-door visits encounters homes that are not on the Census address list, is there a mechanism by which the Census worker can add those homes to the count?

A) The Update part of field operations adds addresses to our files. In Mail Out/Mail Back areas we rely on our files and local and post office updates.

Q) When will the Census Bureau cease collecting Census information from door-to-door visits?

A) Decennial field operations, which include quality measurement and follow-up verifications, will continue for the rest of the calendar year and beyond but for the vast majority of the public and public consumption we consider the closing of thee year local census offices as the end of the census field operations which is currently scheduled for late September 2010.

Write Steve Taylor

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