Wed. Nov 29th, 2023

Reopening of the Las Cruces Area Census Office; local counties to receive hand delivered materials

CLOVIS (KSMX)- The Census Bureau announced they be would resuming field operations in one of three offices covering New Mexico. Among the areas covered by this action will be Curry, Roosevelt and Debaca Counties.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic health mandates in New Mexico, the Bureau suspended all hand-delivery of census materials on March 18.

With the re-initiation of the field office operations, households in 16 of New Mexico’s 33 counties who rely on a hand-delivered form in order to participate in the census can now expect to receive those forms in the next few weeks. Being one of the highest rates in the U.S., nearly 20% of households in New Mexico rely on hand-delivery of their census form.

“We have been encouraging the federal government to resume delivery of census forms to households across New Mexico as soon as it is safe to do so,” said Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. “Reopening the Las Cruces office is a positive move by the U.S. Census Bureau and will help ensure that all of southern New Mexico has the tools they need to participate in the 2020 Census.”

Counties covered by this action include:

  • Catron
  • Chaves
  • Curry
  • DeBaca
  • Doña Ana
  • Eddy
  • Grant
  • Hidalgo
  • Lea
  • Lincoln
  • Luna
  • Otero
  • Roosevelt
  • Sierra
  • Socorro
  • Valencia.

Field staff for the Census Bureau has been trained to observe all social distancing protocols and will wear official government-provided personal protective equipment for their safety and the safety of the public. This operation is contactless and follows the most current health and safety guidelines.

Every household has until October 31st to fill out their census.  Once households receive their census packet, they can fill it out online at my2020census.gov, over the phone, or by mail.

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