The agency will also continue to engage with the community in an effort restore the trust lost after attempts by Trump to politicize the 2020 census.
Despite the obstacles and attempts made by the pandemic to stop it, the Census Bureau performed its task. The numbers used for determining political power and allocating federal funding were “quality products” and fit the purpose they were meant, Robert Santos stated in an interview with The Associated Press.
Santos stated, “I have high confidence in the career staff at Census Bureau and I’ve been incredibly happy with their professionalism, the job they’ve done and their dedication to mission, Constitution and rule of law.” They were diligent and did their job, despite all obstacles.
Opponents feared that the Trump administration may have stopped trying to add a citizenship question on the 2020 census form. Trump’s administration also named a high number of bureau appointees. It tried to end the head count in October after it had adjusted its schedule for the pandemic. Opponents said that this was in an attempt to release the numbers used to divide up the congressional seats during President Donald Trump’s term.
Data from the once-a decade head count are also used to draw political districts and help allocate $1.5 trillion annually in federal spending.
Last year, the Urban Institute think tank estimated that 1.6million people were missing in the 2020 Census. People of color, renters and noncitizens, as well as children, who live in Texas, are most at risk. Santos, who was nominated to head the Census Bureau in 2019, co-authored an Urban Institute Report in which he suggested that African Americans could be underestimated by 3.6%, and Hispanics by 3.5% in worst-case scenarios for the 2020 census.
Speaking to The Associated Press Monday from San Antonio, Texas Santos said he had no idea if the projections were correct. The Census Bureau will release a report card next month that shows how well it did in counting different populations.
Santos was nominated by President Joe Biden to lead the country’s largest statistical agency, . He began his five-year term. He is now responsible for overseeing the release of additional data from 2020’s census later in the year and preparing for 2030’s once-a-decade headcount.
Monday’s statement by Santos indicated that he was “eager” for the Office of Budget and Management to explore whether race and ethnic background questions should combine and whether an additional category for people of Middle Eastern and North African descent should be included in the 2030 census form.
A previous study by the Suitland, Maryland-headquartered Census Bureau showed that combining the race and ethnic background questions increased response rates by Hispanics, who may be uncertain how to answer the race question because they often are from mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds. Although the Office of Budget and Management considered pairing the questions for 2020, the Trump administration decided to keep it separate from the ethnicity question.
Three sociologists released a report last month that said the current practice of classifying people from North Africa or the Middle East as white “may not correspond with their lived experiences nor to other’s perceptions.”
The Census Bureau director would not say whether he supported including questions about sexual orientation and gender identity on the 2030 census form. He said that his personal feelings were not appropriate for such a conversation.
Santos stated that “in principle, we must think about how to capture a better picture of the American people.” The American public is complex. We are becoming more diverse as the years go by. We appreciate culture, language, and our individual identities in ways that transcend the past.”
