![]() ![]() Lujan Grisham issued health directives that required New Mexicans to shelter in place. When it began to tear through Indian Country in March, the Navajo Nation and other tribal lands closed entry to nonresidents to contain the virus, making census door-knocking campaigns impossible. Even in non-pandemic times, they are notoriously difficult to count.Īnd then came COVID-19. It is a given that such remote locations rely upon census workers going door-to-door to distribute the survey. “In some of these places you can’t even get a signal to make a phone call, let alone get internet access,” said Abraham Sanchez, a community organizer with the faith-based organization New Mexico Comunidades en Acción y de Fé (NM CAFé). An estimated 18 percent of households live in the toughest areas of all: extremely remote communities and tribal lands, often marked by dirt roads, nonexistent street signs, feeble cell phone signals and a lack of standard mailing addresses. More than half the Hispanic population lives in hard-to-count census tracts. One third of its residents live in rural areas. New Mexico, with its historically low response rate, is particularly vulnerable. Cutting the work short by a month - amid one of the worst pandemics in history - could cause a “massive undercount,” she said. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) wrote in an Aug. “The Trump administration is trying to manipulate the 2020 Decennial Census for political gain,” U.S. Streamlining, they said, means scaling back the critical work of knocking on doors in rural outposts such as Lordsburg, as well as on tribal lands and other rugged swaths throughout New Mexico and the nation. 31.ĭemocrats accused him and fellow Republicans of attempting to subvert the system. He said the bureau would “streamline” the process, explaining that the shortened timeline is necessary in order to deliver data to lawmakers by Dec. Now, concerns of an impending undercount have taken a new turn.Ĭensus Bureau Director Steven Dillingham announced last week that the count will end Sept. Supreme Court in 2019 struck down the government’s petition to add the question, confusion about the issue persists. President Trump’s inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric has augmented those fears, as has his administration’s attempt to include a citizenship question in the census. In Southern New Mexico, their residents are predominantly Hispanic or Latino some are undocumented immigrants who fear they’ll be detained or deported if they fill out the census. Like Lordsburg, tucked in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico’s southwest corner, they are remote places with high poverty rates and a pronounced lack of computers, broadband and reliable phone service. The neediest communities are often the toughest to survey. That includes funds for food assistance, childcare, Medicaid, Head Start, hospitals, schools, economic development, housing, transportation, and hundreds of other programs that benefit children, families, businesses and communities. More than $1.5 trillion in federal funds each year are distributed based on census data, a George Washington University study found. The census, a constitutionally mandated headcount, determines crucial matters like apportionment - the number of representatives a state is allotted in Congress. Small cities like Lordsburg offer a window into what’s at stake if what’s deserved isn’t delivered. Every New Mexican deserves to be counted.” “Anything less than an accurate and fair census will leave too many New Mexicans without resources and programs to which they’re entitled. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said in an email. “It’s an appalling dereliction of duty to cut short the time apportioned for the count,” Nora Sackett, spokesperson for New Mexico Gov. Census Bureau is ending its data collection efforts a month early. Similar fears have multiplied across the state amid startling news this month that the U.S. A retired mineworker whose roots go back four generations in Lordsburg, Smith is among many who worry that a substantial undercount is in the offing. “I think Lordsburg is done,” said Clark Smith, the city’s former mayor, a title he held for 21 years. But the coronavirus pandemic - and what some call political maneuvering - have kneecapped census outreach efforts, threatening the future of Lordsburg and other small communities in New Mexico. Census will help keep the town alive, residents say. Getting an accurate count in the 2020 U.S. Its population has been dwindling for decades. It is also a potential ghost town, home to about 2,800 residents. It’s the birthplace of the state song “O Fair New Mexico” and the seat of Hidalgo County. Tucked away in New Mexico’s bootheel, Lordsburg is the kind of town that hasn’t bustled in 50 years. The remains of a grocery store stand in front ofĪn abandoned gas station located on U.S. ![]()
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