There's no benefit for the individual person, especially if they're not a citizen, to cooperate with the census. There's nothing in it for them. It just doesn't affect them. They're here to work and then to go back to their own country. They don't understand the census.
Anecdotes suggest the rising Hispanic presence in the area.
Whalen, who does legal work for perhaps 100 to 150 Hispanics annually, said he has noticed three Mexican markets in Knoxville, and believes there were none in the early 1980s when he first moved to the area. Carlos Nicho of Knoxville said two years ago he began publishing a newsletter for Hispanics, which has news in Spanish and English. His circulation initially was about 1,500 copies, but he now is planning to print 6,000. He said his readers are spread among about 20 East Tennessee counties. The Lenoir City Elementary School was planning this year to serve 60 Hispanic children among its 650 student population.