Montgomery County officials are gearing up for the 2020 census, and they want to make sure immigrants and senior citizens are counted.
Among other things, the census determines how state and federal funds are allocated and serves as a guide for determining the county’s social service needs over the next decade. The census also determines whether congressional seats will be reallocated among the 50 states, as well as if district lines must be redrawn.
The U.S. Census Bureau places the responsibility of counting with “complete count committees” of community leaders who encourage residents to participate by mail or online.
Data collection is done every 10 years and will begin April 1, 2020, and must be completed by Dec. 31, according federal law.
Montgomery’s census committee is being chaired by County Council President Nancy Navarro, and has more than 40 members in subgroups that deal with the specialty areas of government, workforce development, faith communities, education, media, technology, community organizations and business.
County Executive Marc Elrich and Navarro met with reporters Wednesday afternoon at the White Oak Community Recreation Center in Silver Spring, saying it is essential that local leaders ensure the county’s immigrant and senior citizen populations are counted. About one-third of the county’s population is foreign-born, according to the Census Bureau.
Navarro said that the policies of the Trump administration could cause fear in undocumented immigrants who are afraid of being detained.
Last year, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the introduction of a question on the 2020 census asking whether residents were American citizens.
“We must acknowledge that there is a lot of tension and fear because of what has happened at the national level,” she said.
Navarro added that the county’s senior population also was a focus for the census committee.
“We have a lot of seniors living around the county who are not necessarily connected to a senior center, and we want to make sure that information is distributed throughout the county,” she said.
Navarro said the census committee includes a number of members of the 2010 census committee. In the coming months, she said, the committee will be conducting outreach efforts such as a media campaign and a bus tour of the county.
A legal battle is being waged in a number of federal courts over whether the citizenship question may be included in the census.
Earlier this month, a ruling in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia declined to block the inclusion of the question, although a separate ruling by a New York federal judge in January found that the question was unconstitutional.
Elrich said that community leaders would be meeting with the immigrant communities to help reassure them that their participation in the census would not put them at risk. He said that there are 42 key areas of the county with high immigrant populations.
“Basically it’s the lower income areas on the east side of the county going to Wheaton, Aspen Hill, Gaithersburg and Germantown,” he said.
Brad Botwin, executive director of the nonprofit Help Save Maryland, which has taken a hard line stance against illegal immigration, said he thinks the county will ignore any court order that allows the inclusion of the citizenship question.
“Of course Montgomery County is not gonna follow the courts. They’re not gonna work with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). They’re gonna do their own thing. This is typical and not good for the taxpayers,” said Botwin, of Rockville.
Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@moco360.media
