OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — National counting for the census can continue through October 31, a federal judge made the ruling late Thursday night.
Over the summer, President Donald Trump drafted a memo to omit undocumented immigrants from the Census count, which was later blocked.
What You Need To Know
- A federal judge ruled late Thursday that the 2020 census count must continue through the end of October
- Attorneys for the government argued that the census must finish at the end of September to meet a Dec. 31 deadline
- Osceola County Latino advocate concerned about under counting of minority groups
However Nancy Batista with Poder LatinX, an advocacy group pushing for Hispanics to fill out the census, said those actions by the administration are causing Latinos to have mistrust in the government.
In fact, at just 57 percent, Osceola County, a heavily Hispanic area, has the lowest self-response rate for the census in Central Florida.
“Osceola County is a hard to count county," Batista said. "And so usually we have to meet people where they’re at right? And that means in the past we would go out to the doors and we would door knock. But because this is a pandemic we can’t do that."
Batista said shortening the census’ schedule can result in undercounting minority groups.
The Trump administration is appealing the federal judge’s ruling on the census extension.
Link for info on response rates by state/county: https://2020census.gov/en/response-rates/self-response.html