With citizenship question off the census, California groups push for participation
LOS ANGELES - The interns tasked with trying to allay fears about the 2020 census crisscrossed MacArthur Park in pairs. Crossing Alvarado Street, they struck up conversations with vendors selling watermelons and headphones.
Switching between Spanish and English, they stressed the importance of the decennial count and urged merchants to sign cards pledging to fill the form out next year.
But their most important talking point was that the census isn't a government back-channel for spying on migrants.
"Today's mission is to inform them that their data is not going to be used against them," said Jasmine Martinez, 16.
"I want to talk to them about things they're familiar with," she said. "If I see them with children, then I'll say, 'Do you care about the future of your child?' ... Hitting home is always how it works."
A high schooler working with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Martinez and about a dozen others spent a recent Tuesday morning handing
