Sunday, November 08, 2009

Some immigrants in Central Falls are afraid to give info to the government

Only half of the residents in this city sent their census forms back in 2000, officials are trying to get a better count this time. Federal money is based on population and towns all need financial help. Yet there are groups urging immigrants to boycott the census. - - Donna Poisl

By Karen Lee Ziner, Journal Staff Writer

CENTRAL FALLS –– On any given street corner of this struggling city, you might hear people speaking English, Spanish, Creole, K’iche, or Portuguese, lending truth to a sign at the city’s border, “Welcome to Central Falls — The Whole World in One Square Mile.” Until recently, Central Falls held a “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” claim as the smallest, most densely populated city in the country.

But the fact is, no one knows how many people live here.
Click on the headline to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.

1 comment:

Child Development in Context Research Program said...

We were just discussing this in our last meeting. Right now there is a huge wave of misinformation about the "dangers of the census" that may leave a large part of the Hispanic population in Rhode Island (and many other states) uncounted. Greater representation has only led to more attention in policy and political circles and losing these numbers would be so debilitating to these positive trends.

This is such a wonderful source of immigrant-focused news! I cannot agree more with your framework for why these issues are so pressing at this time and any.

I have recently started a blog with a focus on immigrant children and adolescents growing up in the US. Please visit! http://newimmigrationbeat.blogspot.com/