PATERSON, New Jersey. – Figures from the Institute for Latin Studies, which conducts the first census of Dominicans in New Jersey, says there are 250,000 living in the Garden State, far from the 150,000 counted in the 2000 Census, and Perth Amboy figures with the proportionately highest in the U.S.

"The Commerce Department Office of the Census said there were 130,000 of us in that state and later recanted and they said the final number was 150,000" said Maria Teresa Feliciano, president  the Institute for Latin Studies, organization that conducts its own head count to determine the community’s real number and needs.

The communitarian population registry, begun in the summer last year, is conducted in Paterson, Perth Amboy, Passaic, Newark, Union City, Jersey City, West New York, North Bergen and Camden, the ten cities with highest number of Dominicans in the state.

In Paterson, the first city where the census was concluded, the Institute found 37,000 Dominicans against the Office of the Census’ 22,000.

It said the numerical differences result partly from the ignorance and the lack of importance undocumented place on the census, the continuous change of address, and the fear they’d be asked their legal status in the country, although the Census doesn’t seek that information.

The partial result in Perth Amboy, where the Dominican population registry has managed to count two third parts, surpasses the number reported by 2000 Census (8,897) by 7,000, and figures proportionately as the city with the highest Dominican population in the U.S.

SOURCE: clavedigital.com