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Hispanic Federation Urges the U.S. Senate to Confirm Robert Santos as the next Director of the U.S. Census Bureau

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 16, 2021

Contact:
Laura Esquivel
202-887-4977
lesquivel@hispanicfederation.org

Today, Hispanic Federation, one of the nation’s leading organizations dedicated to supporting and empowering Latino communities in the US and Puerto Rico, issued the following statement on President Joe Biden’s nomination of Robert Santos as Census Director. Hispanic Federation President and CEO, Frankie Miranda, said:

“President Biden’s appointment of Robert Santos as the first Latino and person of color to lead the U.S. Census Bureau is a cause for celebration. Ensuring diverse leadership in the Biden Administration is an essential step toward improving government service to our nation. “Mr. Santos brings to the Census Bureau decades of experience working with data and statistics. He has also been at the forefront of research detailing the negative impacts of census undercounts across communities.

“Hispanic Federation looks forward to working with Mr. Santos to address the language and access barriers, compounded by inadequate outreach investments, that historically undercounted communities face during the enumeration process. We must also work together to ensure that investments are made to equitably include Puerto Rico and the territories in critical Census data programs such as the Pulse Surveys that provide valuable data about human needs.

“We urge the Senate to quickly confirm Mr. Santos as the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau so he can lead the process of restoring confidence in the accuracy of the 2020 Census and in the underlying data that will inform bedrocks of our democratic system - apportionment and redistricting – across the 50 states.”