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U.S. NEWS Monday 21 March 2022
Time to retool census? Some think so after minorities missed

By MIKE SCHNEIDER vey response. Eventually, the count used for allocat-
Associated Press data related to people’s ing congressional seats.
Is it time to rethink the cen- addresses, demographics, Any effort to revamp how
sus and other surveys that businesses and jobs would the count is conducted will
measure changes in the all be linked together. need to be protected from
U.S. population? In 2030, when the next similar efforts to misuse the
Policymakers and demog- census takes place, the count for political purpos-
raphers have been asking program could help count es, said Paul Ong, a profes-
that question since results people with good admin- sor emeritus of urban stud-
released by the U.S. Census istrative records or links to ies at UCLA.
Bureau this month showed other records, and more re- “The 2020 enumeration was
Black, Hispanic, American sources could be devoted a wakeup call,” Ong said.
Indian and other minor- toward households that are “The Census Bureau has a
ity residents were under- the hardest to count, Cen- very important and funda-
counted at greater rates sus Bureau Director Robert mental function in our so-
in 2020 than in the previous Census Bureau Director nominee Robert Santos, testifies before Santos said in a recent in- ciety. It is the keeper of our
decade. the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs terview with The Associat- demographic truths.”
On the top of that, results committee, Thursday, July 15, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. ed Press. From a purely civic per-
from a version of its most Associated Press “We are looking to take spective, Terri Ann Lowen-
comprehensive survey that advantage of existing thal, a former congressio-
compares year-to-year undercounts of racial and system,” Ron Jarmin, the technology, and that nec- nal staffer who specializes
changes in U.S. life had to ethnic minorities are noth- chief operating officer of essarily includes the merg- in census issues, worries a
be mostly scrapped be- ing new to the census; the Census Bureau, said last ing of large databases on greater reliance on ad-
cause disruptions caused they’ve been persistent for December when he was people, not to create a ministrative records at the
by the pandemic pro- decades.In recent years, serving as the agency’s Big Brother society, but to expense of public partici-
duced fewer responses in the cost of censuses and acting director. supplement and reduce pation will be one less thing
2020. surveys have grown while Even before the release of the burden on our popu- that engages everyone
“The current model of com- public participation rates the 2020 report card earlier lation when it comes time in the U.S., no matter their
ing up with a master ad- for surveys have declined. this month, the Census Bu- to gather data,” said San- background.
dress list, mailing everybody The bureau’s biggest be- reau had been develop- tos, who was appointed by “If you are in a millionaire’s
an invitation — like you’re tween-census effort to take ing new ways of gathering President Joe Biden. mansion or living in a tent
inviting people to a party the measure of the U.S. data. Chief among them is Relying on administrative under a bridge, you matter
and hoping they respond, population, the American the embryonic Frames Pro- records may have its own to the census,” Lowenthal
and if not, you’re going to Community Survey, pro- gram that would combine problems because some said.
track them down — I think duces 11 billion statistics all kinds of data sets, includ- groups, such as people in The Census Bureau has
it’s an obsolete system,” from interviews with 3.5 mil- ing administrative records the country illegally, often been at the forefront of ad-
said Arturo Vargas, CEO of lion households each year, from the private sector and have little paper trail. vances in data gathering
NALEO Educational Fund, a and the once-a-decade government agencies, as Besides naming an unusu- and processing — wheth-
nonpartisan nonprofit that census tallies every U.S. well as surveys and census- ally high number of political er using punch cards and
supports Latino political en- resident for a count used in es that have been staples appointees to the Census electronic tabulators at the
gagement. divvying up federal funding of Census Bureau data- Bureau, the Trump admin- end of the 19th century or
The undercounts in the and congressional seats gathering for decades. istration unsuccessfully at- employing the first modern
2020 census were blamed among the states as well as Under the concept, one tempted to use administra- computer installed by a ci-
on the pandemic, natu- redrawing political districts. data set such as an individ- tive records to get a tally vilian government agency
ral disasters and politi- “What we have today ual’s IRS file would be linked of the number of people in for the 1950 census. For the
cal interference from the largely is still a 20th centu- to another, such as the indi- the country illegally so they 2020 census, it tried several
Trump administration, but ry, survey-centric statistical vidual’s Census Bureau sur- could be eliminated from new approaches.q

Former Apple employee charged with

defrauding $10 million

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A stealing parts and causing commit fraud, money laun-
former Apple employee the company to pay for dering and tax evasion. It’s
has been charged with de- items and services it never unclear whether he has re-
frauding the tech giant out received. tained a lawyer. A phone
of more than $10 million by A court has allowed the number listed for him was
taking kickbacks, stealing federal government to disconnected.
equipment and laundering seize five real estate prop- Two owners of vendor com-
money, federal prosecutors erties and financial ac- panies that did business
said. counts worth about $5 mil- with Apple have admitted
Dhirendra Prasad, 52, lion from Prasad, and the to conspiring with Prasad to
worked for 10 years as a government is seeking to commit fraud and launder
buyer in Apple’s Global keep those assets as pro- money, prosecutors said.
Service Supply Chain de- ceeds of crime, the U.S. At- Prasad is scheduled to An Apple logo is seen in raindrops on a window outside an Apple
partment. torney’s office in San Jose make a first appearance in Store at the Country Club Plaza shopping district in Kansas City,
A federal criminal case un- said in a news release. U.S. District Court in San Jose Mo., on Dec. 26, 2018.
sealed Friday alleges that Prasad is scheduled to ap- next week on Thursday. Associated Press
he exploited his position to pear in court next Thursday Fraud, money laundering to 20 years, but sentencing convicted of fraud in fed-
defraud the company in to answer to charges of en- and tax evasion each carry guidelines and judges’ dis- eral court receive less than
several schemes, including gaging in a conspiracy to maximum sentences of five cretion mean most people the maximum sentence.q