April 10, 2010

Recently, Los Angeles community leaders came together at a press conference to assure immigrant communities their information will remain confidential when they fill out the Census 2010 form. The Department of Justice issued assurances in response to community concerns regarding the USA PATRIOT Act and its potential effects on the Census. The letter states "no provisions of (the Patriot) Act override otherwise applicable Census Act provisions," and goes on to reinforce the strict confidentiality laws that the Census Bureau, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department must comply with.

Federal laws protect every individual's census responses. The Census Bureau is bound by Title 13 of the United States Code. In addition, other federal laws, including the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act and the Privacy Act, reinforce these protections. In addition to these laws, every Census worker is sworn for life to protect the confidentiality of the data.

"Our Constitution, which requires that the Census be conducted each decade, has developed over the nation's history to ensure that every person living in the country counts in the Census," said Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "To further ensure that, we have developed ironclad protections for personal information in order to prevent its use for any purpose other than the Census. The Department of Justice guidance confirms that neither the PATRIOT Act nor any other recent enactment can weaken these strong protections."

The Muslim Public Affairs Council Executive Director, Salam Al-Marayati, assured if any of the federally protected information is disclosed or violated MPAC will hold those individuals or parties accountable to the fullest extent.

The first Census questionnaires were received earlier this month. Replacement questionnaires will be sent during the first week of April. The Census Bureau will only be collecting responses by mail-in questionnaire from now until mid-April. After mid-April, Census workers will visit every household that did not respond by mail.

- An M. Le, Esq. (www.apalc.org)
Census 2010 Statewide Network Manager,
Asian Pacific American Legal Center