BY J.G.
Throughout school and life in general we hear statistics
about race, age, sex, etc. but never truly wonder where all these numbers come
from. We owe this pool of information to the census. By definition the census
is an official count or survey of a population, typically recording various
details of individuals, which takes place every ten years. In 2000, 281.4
million citizens were counted in the United States and of those residents; 35.3
million or 13.2% were Latino. The amount of Latinos counted shows a Hispanic
population increase of 57.9 percent from 22.4 million in 1990 (Guzman 2001) . With this
increase of Latinos shown in the 2000 census questions arise of how many of the
undocumented population is getting counted and put toward these statistics. The
government does their best in trying to estimate the number of undocumented
immigrants in this country but the real question is: how accurate is the US
census?
The census is important to us as residents of the United
States because its results can effect our every day lives. The results of the
census are used for planning, development and improvement of residents' quality
of life (Central
Bureau of Statistics n.d.) .
As we previously saw in the film The Sixth Section, many undocumented immigrants enter our country
every year for reasons such as finding work, sending home remittances, and even
to play a role in their local government from their origin town (Rivera 2003) .
In 2000, 31.1 million “foreign-born” US residents were accounted for with over
half of those being Latino and almost 60% of the “foreign-born” being
undocumented (Census 2003) . Many may
wonder how undocumented immigrants are accounted for, being as most of them
would prefer to lay low from the US Government fearing deportation, but the
United States does a good job in reaching those who may be more seemingly off
the grid than others. To assure undocumented immigrants that responding to the
census won’t get them in trouble, the Census Bureau uses TV, radio, as well as
the help of community organizations to get the word out. Also to make-up for a
potential language barrio, census forms are provided in five different
languages and have assistance guides available (Mather 2010) .
With all the means of answering the census and the
“protection” of undocumented immigrants the United States census should be very
accurate although its statistics can never truly be proven. The US census does
its best in encouraging the participation of the undocumented immigrants but
we’ll never truly know for sure how many censuses go unanswered and how many
residents go unaccounted for.
Census.
The Foreign-Born Population: 2000. 12 2003.
https://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-34.pdf.
Central Bureau of Statistics. Population
Census.
http://www.cbs.gov.il/census/census/pnimi_sub_page_e.html?id_topic=1&id_subtopic=5.
Guzman, Betsy. The Hispanic Population:
Census 2000 Brief. 05 2001.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-3.pdf.
Mather, Mark, interview by Emily Howard. How
Does the U.S. Census Count the Homeless and Undocumented Immigrants
http://earthsky.org/human-world/how-does-u-s-census-count-the-homeless-and-undocumented-immigrants,
(04 06, 2010).
The Sixth Section. Directed by Alex Rivera. Produced by PBS. 2003.
Nice post! I like the fact that you took the initiative to explore something we were talking about in class and were all wondering about. You mentioned that "The results of the census are used for planning, development and improvement of residents' quality of life (Central Bureau of Statistics n.d.)". I was just wondering what are some examples of this and maybe what are some ways that the census specifically improves the quality of immigrants' lives?
ReplyDeleteThe census is a great way to account for individuals in the US. The only thing I question is what if an individual considers themselves white rather than Hispanic. Many Latinos now in days consider themselves white this can alter the accuracy of the results. The Census Bureau does in fact go out of its way for people to feel safe to fill out the the census. Unfortunately a lot of illegal immigrants still fear of getting caught if they fill it out.
ReplyDeleteThe census is a great way of conducting business. But sometimes it doesn't work efficiently enough. Like mentioned above, sometimes latinos will put down black, or white cause they see that as their skin color. I also wonder when people go away for college for example thats one less person in a household. There is just a lot of flaws when it comes to the census.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that the census can be used by policy makers to alter the ways in which people live. I wonder how a more accurate account of undocumented immigrants would change this? Would a more accurate number definitely lead to better planning, development and improvement of residents' quality of life for these immigrants?
ReplyDeleteThe census is a great way of acquiring lots of information about people in the U.S. I agree with what you said about, "The results of the census are used for planning, development and improvement of residents' quality of life" because this is very important. It helps the government see the increase in populations in several states and which states are would need more help than others. I do ponder though about what happens with the families that do not know English. Do they just not fill the survey?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this blog post a lot because it taught me something new. When we went over the census in class I wasn't totally sure how undocumented workers were accounted for. Like you mentioned they would want to stay under the radar, so I didn't understand how the country would be able to get an accurate number. The government saying undocumented workers cant get in trouble for filling out the census definitely helps the accuracy of this number more than anything. They know they can go, fill out the census with help if needed, and not be penalized for it.
ReplyDeleteI feel for all intents and purposes the census is accurate enough in giving us ranges at least to go off of. You are right in the fact that they do a good job of obtaining the information. I liked how you tied the film in as well.
ReplyDeleteI found this post very interesting; I was not aware of how the U.S. government reaches out to undocumented immigrants to use towards the census. I would have thought that those immigrants would prefer to be under the radar due to the fear of deportation also, as suggested in the post. Additionally, I like that it brought up the point that we’ll never really know how many censuses go unanswered and how many residents go unaccounted for, thus not being able to receive accurate statistics on the residents of the U.S.
ReplyDeleteThis post does a good job of identifying the census here in the U.S. I definitely have learned something new in this post specifically on how the census is counted toward undocumented immigrants and other people. As much as we would like to rely on the validity on the census, it really is almost impossible to account for every single person esspecially if its undocumented. Its clear to see that the census is solely based on what the government could get, but in the end its very difficult to account everyone
ReplyDeleteThis post does a great job on putting into perspective how population demographics are studied through the census in order to properly plan within the country, but I feel that the census is one of those things that sound great on paper but in reality is not as useful as it should be. The reason that I say this because the myriad of technical terms when it comes to identifying oneself in this country. You have Latinos who think they are white, you have latinos who acknowledge their afro-latino roots, others identify with their native roots. This issue right here plays in key role in the effectiveness of the census because you have a variety of ways of identifying themselves. This is caused by a lack of true historical perspective which directly effects the census count.
ReplyDeleteThis post is very informative. I think the government did a good job on announcing that the undocumented immigrants won't get in trouble for filling out the census. However, I still have a feeling that they will try to stay out of the radar and not fill it. Even if they did, would it be completely accurate. As discussed in class, back then dominicans would associate themselves as puerto ricans, some latinos as white and afro latino as black. So we will never know how many census are unanswered or falsely answered.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post! I genuinely enjoyed reading this. I also wondered but never really took time to understand where the government gets all of it ideas and statistics for why they do certain projects, but that's because of the census.But I always windered how accurate the census was. After all there is no way that the United States government can fully account for all of its citizens and residents. I am glad that the government does take the time to count all of its residents, even the ones who are illegal, because honestly there a part of this country. I am glad to see the effort the government takes to count all of the illgeals and see who is accualty a part of this country and living here and show a much more accurate representation of the percentages of which ethnic groups actually do live here. I am also glad to read how they also publicize the information for illegals to see and register themselves in the census without a fear of deportation luring at them. Very good blog though!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post! I genuinely enjoyed reading this. I also wondered but never really took time to understand where the government gets all of it ideas and statistics for why they do certain projects, but that's because of the census.But I always windered how accurate the census was. After all there is no way that the United States government can fully account for all of its citizens and residents. I am glad that the government does take the time to count all of its residents, even the ones who are illegal, because honestly there a part of this country. I am glad to see the effort the government takes to count all of the illgeals and see who is accualty a part of this country and living here and show a much more accurate representation of the percentages of which ethnic groups actually do live here. I am also glad to read how they also publicize the information for illegals to see and register themselves in the census without a fear of deportation luring at them. Very good blog though!
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting post. I did not know the demographic information regarding Latinos in America. I like that you integrated the film we have recently watched in the course. You did a great job of including what we have learned in class along with your own research.
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