By Luisa Yanez, Sun-Sentinel . Web-posted: 11:13 p.m. June 27, 2000
HIALEAH -- The long tentacles of the Elián González case have now hit the U.S. Census Bureau -- in the pocketbook.
Because of negative feelings toward the U.S. government over the raid to retrieve the boy, up to 1,000 Hialeah residents have turned away scores of door-to-door census takers in recent weeks, officials said this week.
Their anger had an impact on their city's count, Census 2000 officials said.
And if Elián is allowed to return to Cuba today, those sentiments may impact the Census-taking again, officials admit.
So far, a quality control survey has revealed that about 11,000 forms have to be redone in Hialeah, Miami-Dade County's second largest city, which has a large Cuban-American population.
The number is a random percentage and does not represent the number of residents who turned away census takers.
A fresh legion of 200 enumerators has been dispatched to get a correct count -- all at additional costs to the Census Bureau, officials said.
"We do have to pay for the workers to go out there again, but we are doing it because we want to make sure Hialeah gets an accurate count," said Hialeah Census office manager Gamael Nassar.
It's unknown how much the second count will cost, but it could be thousands of dollars, Nassar said.
The U.S. government is spending $7 billion on the nationwide count. Census figures are used to determine political representation and the distribution of federal funds. More than $185 billion in federal aid will be distributed to states and cities.
The Elián-related census rebellion also hit small pockets of Little Havana near the home were the 6-year-old lived for several months.
"At first, residents were refusing to fill out the form or talk to the census workers," said Diana Perez, a Census office manager who supervised the count in that neighborhood. "But that died down after a while."
But in Hialeah, there was so much hostility, Census officials appealed to Mayor Raul Martinez to persuade residents to cooperate. He helped bring home the point that an undercount would impact federal aid sent to their community.
"The mayor went out and told them this was not U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's census, that this means money for the community," Nassar said.
Local census officials blamed the problem on bad timing. Census workers fanned out a week after the April 22 raid to the homes of residents who had not mailed back their forms.
Ill feelings have subsided and Nassar census workers should get a more accurate count.
"Except with the possibility of the boy being sent back could start this whole thing over again," he said. "It's bad timing again."
Luisa Yanez can be reached at lyanez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7920.
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