Census workers can enter your apartment in your absence
Thousands of census workers, including many temporary employees, are fanning out across America to gather information on the citizenry. This is a process that takes place not only every decade in order to complete the constitutionally-mandated census; but also as part of the continuing “American Community Survey” conducted by the Census Bureau on a regular basis year in and year out.
What many Americans don’t realize, is that census workers — from the head of the Bureau and the Secretary of Commerce (its parent agency) down to the lowliest and newest Census employee — are empowered under federal law to actually demand access to any apartment or any other type of home or room that is rented out, in order to count persons in the abode and for “the collection of statistics.” If the landlord of such apartment or other leased premises refuses to grant the government worker access to your living quarters, whether you are present or not, the landlord can be fined $500.00.
That’s right — not only can citizens be fined if they fail to answer the increasingly intrusive questions asked of them by the federal government under the guise of simply counting the number of people in the country; but a landlord must give them access to your apartment whether you’re there or not, in order to gather whatever “statistics” the law permits.
In fact, some census workers apparently are going even further and demanding — and receiving — private cell phone numbers from landlords in order to call tenants and obtain information from them. Isn’t it great to live in a “free” country?
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1,749 comments Add your comment
M. A.
May 29th, 2010
5:11 pm
This is simply not true. I work for the Dicentennial Cesus in my local area in administration. The enumerators, their crew leaders and their field operations managers only assist in gathering information from people who are kind enough to offer it. Some people only report the number of folks in the dwelling. they are not forced to give any more. If they refuse to give any info, that is duly noted and a neighbor is asked how many people live there. People are getting too paranoid.
smarter than you democrat
May 29th, 2010
5:14 pm
They are putting our troops on the mexican border but not to do anything about the illegals coming across the border.
They are even hired to hand out water to the illegals.
Words have meanings.
Notice how the obama butt sniffers here use the word immigrants, not illegal immigrants or illegals.
Did you notice how they spin things?
They lie because the end justifies the means.
I have no reason to doubt the word of this blogger.
Soon they will be putting heat/ cold regulators in your homes.
And they will be putting liquor regulators in vehicles.
Hey, the little money you get from the demonrats, is it worth the loss of freedoms?
Look at all these progressives on this blog- it’s like a gang.
Linda
May 29th, 2010
5:22 pm
Divinity, if you’re interested in history and your ancestors, I’d think you’d be interested in filling out EVEN MORE information on your census return. My “limited knowledge” of the census includes 30 years of working with census data in family history research. I WISH this year’s census could leave behind more data for our descendants, they would thank us. This census will be almost worthless, compared to past years’ data.
Maybe you know this, but the census is the one place you start researching your family that gives you the most leads to past generations. I started my family research by studying the 1900 census. On it, you will find:
address
name of each household member and relation to head of household
“color or race” of each person
sex of each person
date of birth and age at last birthday, for each person
“whether single, married, widowed, or divorced” and “number of years of present marriage”
“mother of how many children” and “number of these children living”, for adult females
nativity: place of birth for each person, place of birth of father, place of birth of mother
citizenship: year of immigration to the U.S., number of years in the U.S., naturalization
occupation, trade or profession: occupation, months not employed
education: attended school?, can read?, can write?, can speak English?
ownership of home: owned or rented? owned free or mortgaged? farm or house? number of farm schedule
All this information was recorded, yet the nation survived it. And it gave me and millions of others a real connection with our history here in America.
In our schooling, we learn so much about presidents and war generals and so little about real people. The census is The People’s History. Some folks here might call that pollyanna, but the census is one of the few places we can find details about our own people. This is my REAL agenda with the census: an accurate picture of the US on April 1, 2010.
Linda
May 29th, 2010
5:30 pm
Divinity: “… it’s unreasonable for you to think that the frustration people have with what the census has turned into is delusional paranoia. It, like SO many other things, has gotten completely out of hand.”
Please enlighten me. Exactly what has gotten out of hand? What rights has the census deprived you of? What’s at the bottom of this fear that’s keeping you awake at night?
I’m looking for something real here, some concrete example of how you are less free than you were before, or a specific run-in you’ve had with the census that violates your rights.
smarter than you democrat
May 29th, 2010
5:33 pm
So if you drink and drive there will be a regulator in your car to tell if you’re tipsy.
And in your home there will be a regulator to tell you ( HA! ) how much energy you’re using.
And the troops are sent to the border but not to protect our country from the foreign invasion of illegals.
Ya gotta be real dumb not to hear the news and it to not register in your brain.
Yeah, that’s what I heard on the regular main stream news yesterday and today.
No. It wasn’t in some science fiction book.
Linda
May 29th, 2010
5:50 pm
Are you saying that any or all of these things make you less free or violates your rights, “smarter”? I don’t register these things as the catastrophes as you seem to, I guess. In fact, measuring a few of those things is kinda helpful to know. The sky isn’t falling, in my book.
Can you also come up with some specific ways the census has violated your rights? I really wanna hear all the gory details here.
Random Internet Sentinel
May 29th, 2010
5:59 pm
To both sides: You make me fear for your minds, bodies, and souls.
smarter than you democrat
May 29th, 2010
6:07 pm
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Thomas Jefferson
Bruce
May 29th, 2010
6:11 pm
It’s funny that people complain about the census being intrusive with it’s 7 questions but no one seems to complain too much about the intrusive questions or applications for facebook accounts or even writing comments here. Go figure
Mark Weiner
May 29th, 2010
6:54 pm
I work for the U.S. Census Bureau now. In my present job, I’m told I’m allowed to enter a residence ONLY if the resident allows us in. Most of my work can be done at the door.(This may not apply to all U.S. Census jobs.)
Mark Weiner
May 29th, 2010
6:55 pm
Enter your comments here
i_fell_for_it
May 29th, 2010
7:09 pm
I filled out the census form, mail it and two days later got another one. This one had 72 questions on it. All questions very personal. Surprised they didn’t ask me how long my dick was.
Jim Henshaw
May 29th, 2010
7:51 pm
“Whoever, being the owner, proprietor, manager, superintendent, or agent of any hotel, apartment house, boarding or lodging house, tenement, or other building, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary or by any other officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof, acting under the instructions of the Secretary, to furnish the names of the occupants of such premises, or to give free ingress thereto and egress therefrom”
Bob Barr appears to be correct in his assessment of what the law allows. “other building” is broad enough to include single-family dwellings or apartments or condos, and “free egress” is broad enough to include entering the unit.
Maybe it is not the intent of the CURRENT policy of the census bureau to allow such an invasive action, but if a census worker demands to actually enter your dwelling, and you refuse, you have just violated the law and can be fined. Do you really trust the government to not eventually push the envelope here?
tom
May 29th, 2010
8:01 pm
Isn’t it just grand, common thief’s can enter you abode without you being home.
Well at least O.B.A.M.A.: One Big Ass Mistake, America! is keeping up the iron fist of the state – now that we have gone Socialist instead of Democratic.
Heil Heil the Chief rectum kisser.
tom
May 29th, 2010
8:01 pm
Isn’t it just grand, common thief’s can enter you abode without you being home.
Well at least O.B.A.M.A.: One Big Ass Mistake, America! is keeping up the iron fist of the state – now that we have gone Socialist instead of Democratic.
Heil Heil the Chief rectum kisser.
Joe
May 29th, 2010
8:19 pm
Good. We need accurate information on the population to provide social services, as well as accurate Congressional representation. I work for the Census and have to deal with way too much asinine, abusive behavior from paranoid fools like you. Luckily you are outnumbered by all of the very nice, decent people out there who understand the importance of the Census and aren’t committed to living in hiding like some kooky militia members.
Frank
May 29th, 2010
8:29 pm
“Increasingly invasive questions”? This is the shortest Census form in history. It asks for names of residents, ages and dates of birth, race and ethnicity, whether the residence is rented or owned (or etc.), whether anyone else was staying there on April 1st, and for a phone number for quality control. THAT”S IT. How can the government be effective if they are in the dark with regards to these simple, basic facts about American citizens? Stop spreading paranoia among the less mentally competent members of the U.S. population, many people are uneducated enough as it is.
Eric S
May 29th, 2010
8:48 pm
They have been by my place already. Offered an apology for not sending the form out because of being too busy (was going to only answer what they were constitutionally allowed to know). The woman had less questions then what was on the form and it was in line. She stood without my door as I answered.
Harumphhh
May 29th, 2010
8:53 pm
Just a few observations.
Divinity wishes Linda would tone down her name calling (which was pretty minimal, in my opinion) and is hurt by someone calling her a terrorist for supporting Ron Paul. She is silent, however, on the dozens of posts calling census workers and non-conservatives “sheeple”, “libtards”, “goons”, “nazis”, “thugs”. Personally, I am hurt by accusations of being a terrorist sympathizer simply because I voted for Obama. Look to the beam in your own eye, Linda.
There has been comment about census enumerators and others disputing Barr’s interpretation of the law being some sort of gang that has infiltrated this blog. What about all the “shoot’em on sight” comments that dominated the early pages of these comments. Don’t they constitute some form of a gang? Perhaps they were paid thugs of the NRA or The Heritage Foundation? Or does that kind of accusation only fly in one direction?
Lastly, those who seem most upset about the few ne’er do wells who got by the census employment screening are the ones who appear most comfortable with the thought of killing census enumerators and either cooking their corpses or feeding the remains to their dogs. Some indicate they have expertise in the disposal of bodies. Kind of makes those shady hires look like choirboys in comparison, dont’cha think?
ThePlainTruth
May 29th, 2010
11:25 pm
This story just plain bogus. Census workers CANNOT enter your home. The law says that the landlord must grant them access to the property (which means beyond any locked front gates, front doors, etc… ) so that Census workers can knock on apartment doors. Census workers CANNOT enter a home without permission. To get the FACTS:
http://factcheck.org/2010/05/more-census-nonsense/
Adam CensusWorker
May 30th, 2010
12:59 am
Bob Barr- clearly you are a fool.
Moe Badderman
May 30th, 2010
2:24 am
> My doggy has been trained to tear your balls off
> My Great Danes would love to have company for dinner
> My dogs would love if they did
> I hope my dog bites him/her
> my dogs will tear you up
> Dog food for my Doberman
> i turned my dogs loose
> My 3 dogs will gladly finish up
> I let two of the dogs out
Thank you, Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel. Enjoy your stay in prison.
Mark
May 30th, 2010
7:08 am
Byron M. Kerr, the only information they are Constitutionally entitled to is how many people reside at the address.
Anything more invasive than that is a usurpation of power and should not be volunteered.
ilikemyprivacy
May 30th, 2010
7:42 am
[QUOTE]As a last resort I go to the landlord and they tell me how many people’s name is on the lease or listed as residents there. That’s it.[END QUOTE}
1. "As a last resort". WOW! Really? 'As a last resort' ???
2. If the "last resort" only required that " how many people’s name is on the lease or listed as residents there" ... then WHY does the census form mailed to every addy ASK for MORE information than that?
[QUOTE}Male or female? Age on Census Day and birth date, are you Hispanic? Race? Do you own or rent, and if you own is there a mortgage? Do you sometimes live someplace else? That is about it.[END QUOTE] That’s about it huh? “Social Security numbers will not be used for identification purposes”. Chew on that…
[QUOTE]Perhaps they have no business asking anything other than “How many people live here”? [END QUOTE]“Perhaps”…. PERHAPS??!! The mind boggles. Define “census” in it’s strictest terms please!
[QUOTE]But they have been taking names, ages, etc. every ten years for a couple of hundred years.[END QUOTE] Well then, by that logic slavery should be legit since ‘it was in practice for a couple hundred years’.
[quote]They do maintain that all personal information is kept confidential for 72 years.[end quote] *laughs* Oh yeah! The GOVERNMENT is in charge of my personal information. I feel SO MUCH safer now! The same entity that couldn’t keep us safe from 9/11, Katrina and is involved in boondoggles from the Korean War, Vietnam to Iraq/Afghanistan …. yeah, I sleep soundly at night knowing the the .GOV is ‘committed to my privacy’!!
Not ONE person advocating for the ‘census’ has explained WHY Big Brother needs to know more than “xyz amount of people are present at abc place”. Other than a physical tally – WHY does gunverment NEED to know anything else?
Go ahead. Label me paranoid/whathaveyou. The GUNverment has this on record anyways…
"smarter than you"~ democrat
May 30th, 2010
8:02 am
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Thomas Jefferson
Linda
May 30th, 2010
8:37 am
Are you new around here, Harumphhh?
OF COURSE, the “thuggish gang” accusations only go one way. That’s because, as always, the people who shout it the loudest are the ones who are the most guilty of it themselves.
And yeah, some of these “tough guys” rant pretty loud online. Yet, I have not seen ANY of that kind of behavior on my beat. There are a few people I think have been home but not answering the door–maybe that’s our “tough guys” cowering behind their locked doors afraid to chat with somebody armed only with a pencil, a clipboard, and a questionnaire asking about stuff they’ve probably already posted online for all the world to see.
I’m still waiting to hear a story of how the rights of ANYBODY here have actually been violated by the census. ***crickets chirping***
"smarter than you"~ so says a democrat
May 30th, 2010
8:41 am
i_fell_for_it
I empathize. I wouldn’t be surprised if they see what goes on in bedrooms and hear whispered conversations of law abiding citizens.
( the war of terror is over, but there are still terrorists……….hmmmmm)
Their questionnaire, the “rolling census”, is sent to just a few here and there, so as not to have a revolt.
Of course they have a quick, less intrusive questionnaire to everyone, duh, if they sent the ” rolling”
questionnaire to everyone; there would be a revolt.
It is discouraging that so many are blinded, or if you like; drunk with kool aid.
But I am encouraged that many have awoken that were asleep.
Deb D
May 30th, 2010
10:04 am
Who writes this crap!! I am a hired temporary census worker and I can tell you flat out we are not allowed in anyone’s home without them present. This is for our protection and the homeowners. As far as the questions asked, they are not intrusive into anyone’s privacy. You don’t even have to answer any of them that you have a problem with. It’s really quite basic — name, gender, birthdate, relationship to homeowner/renter race, ethnicity and no names are published, just the statistics when all data is assembled.
Tinsletown
May 30th, 2010
10:07 am
I sleep with a .22 rifle next to me with a 30 round clip right beside it. They can come on in if they want.
john
May 30th, 2010
10:20 am
the way the census works is this:
no one who filled out the form and sent it in will be visited.
now, if you did not mail in your census form-
then you can expect a knock on the door.
ObserverOnTheHill
May 30th, 2010
10:21 am
We no longer enjoy the rights given to us under the Constitution as that was the purpose of the Patriot Act. This is why many of these “unconstitutional” things are happening and there’s nothing we can do about it until November 2010. see here – http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/constitution-may-be-suspended-war-national-emergency-and-continuity-of-government/question-1037415/
Linda
May 30th, 2010
10:30 am
Trust me, Tinsletown, no one wants to come into your house and we’re not going to do that. If you hadn’t read the follow-up, this is a story Bob Barr made up to scare the bejeezus out of his true-believer followers. Here’s the scoop, from FACTCHECK:
More Census Nonsense
Linda
May 30th, 2010
10:34 am
john, actually some of the folks I’m interviewing have sent the form in and it wasn’t received in time. If their return wasn’t received and recorded by April 17th, we have to interview and fill out a form for them. The identifying information on the form prevents them from actually being counted twice, though.
Linda
May 30th, 2010
10:36 am
ObserverOnTheHill, what “unconstitutional” things are happening to you? Do you have a specific story about how your rights are being violated? I would like to hear it.
(BTW, I’m no fan of the Patriot Act and wish it would have been repealed.)
Tom Pain
May 30th, 2010
11:04 am
http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/13C7.txt
-STATUTE-
Whoever, being the owner, proprietor, manager, superintendent, or
agent of any hotel, apartment house, boarding or lodging house,
tenement, or other building, refuses or willfully neglects, when
requested by the Secretary or by any other officer or employee of
the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof, acting
under the instructions of the Secretary, to furnish the names of
the occupants of such premises, or to give free ingress thereto and
egress therefrom to any duly accredited representative of such
Department or bureau or agency thereof, so as to permit the
collection of statistics with respect to any census provided for in
subchapters I and II of chapter 5 of this title, or any survey
authorized by subchapter IV or V of such chapter insofar as such
survey relates to any of the subjects for which censuses are
provided by such subchapters I and II, including, when relevant to
the census or survey being taken or made, the proper and correct
enumeration of all persons having their usual place of abode in
such premises, shall be fined not more than $500.
"smarter than you"~ so says a democrat
May 30th, 2010
12:02 pm
Another link:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
Xenophon
May 30th, 2010
12:56 pm
And you can thank Abraham Lincoln for getting all of this started. All hail the Central Government in its Infinite Wisdom!!!
"smarter than you"~ so says a democrat
May 30th, 2010
2:25 pm
How does it feel to know that your own mastas call you a useful idiot.
Just a tool.
The jokes on you.
Harumphhh
May 30th, 2010
2:38 pm
Actually, we can thank the founding fathers for the census. But thank you, Mr. Lincoln, for preserving the Union and delivering many fellow Americans from the bonds of slavery.
Jan W
May 30th, 2010
2:48 pm
All you census workers come off as a bunch of lying propagandists for an anti-American administration. Strange how census workers here are telling Americans who object to the census to go to places like Cuba! That’s the dreamland of leftists, not Americans. Then another census employee threatens us with being audtied by the IRS if we do not cooperate. You thugs, you heathen, you kool-aid drinking empty-headed leftists and jihadist sympathizing anti-American stooges. The drug revolution is over. Get a life.
Sarah Lincoln
May 30th, 2010
2:55 pm
President Lincoln, a Republican delivered freedom to slaves. What have the Democrats ever delivered except dependency, eugenic theories, and abortion targeted at black people? Democrats are the new slave masters, the whip being replaced by handouts, the noose being replaced by abortions with more devastating results than what we were supposed to be delivered from.
Linda
May 30th, 2010
3:00 pm
FactCheck.org turns out to be a tool of the Democrat movement. It purports to be non-biased but it has been caught working with the Obama adminstration to get the Administration’s message out! Apparently they are partially funded by George Soros, and if that doesn’t say it all, I do not know what does.
Mike Mahoney
May 30th, 2010
3:10 pm
How believable is it that the Census needs to collect the “data points” they say they need to collect to plan for schools and more red lights? Whether I rent or own my home, and many of the other “data points” are irrelevant to decisions that are typically made by LOCAL government officials not CENTRAL PLANNERS in Washington. The ad campaign run by the Census assumes we are a bunch of idiots who will believe anything big government tells us. Listen to the Census ads on the radio and see if what they claim makes any sense in light of how the real world works. Oh, they sound good. Everyone likes the sounds of kids reciting “1 + 1 = 2″ but when did the central planners in Washington ever participate in decisions that are made locally and at least initially financed by local taxes?
Linda
May 30th, 2010
3:19 pm
Apparently, somebody’s using my name to post stuff that I didn’t write (above re FactCheck. Ooooh, that’s sooo cute. Reminds me of 3rd grade.
Obviously done by someone who hates it when the facts are checked. I wonder why.
Linda
May 30th, 2010
3:29 pm
Yeah Linda. Like you are the only one with the name Linda! Quit using MY name and quit acting like a 2nd grader hon.
We love it when facts are checked. We hate it when propaganda is issued under the guise of “fact”. Which NGO or GO are you a stooge of? SEIU or what?
Linda
May 30th, 2010
3:30 pm
Mike, the question about home ownership/rental have been on our census since 1890, with questions about the value of real estate owned on even earlier censuses. There’s plenty of aid that trickles down to local governments in various forms. Whether or not it comes to your area, is there a reason you don’t want to provide this information. I know in my county provides on their website as public information so it’s no secret anyway.
Kaylin
May 30th, 2010
3:31 pm
Linda is a friend of mine and she’s with of moveon.org.
Linda
May 30th, 2010
3:33 pm
“Linda”, does your mom know you’re on the computer again. I’m thinkin’ it’s past your bedtime.
Linda
May 30th, 2010
3:34 pm
Yeah, riiiiiight, Kaylin …
Mike Mahoney
May 30th, 2010
3:39 pm
Linda, if the County already has it, then get it from the County. If it’s no secret then you should not need to bother me with the questions. I know there’s plenty of aid that “trickles down”… are you sure you want to use that phrase? I really do not care if it appear on the BC 544 census. That a question has appeared on previous Census’ does not justify the questions existence unless you are a shallow thinker. How many toilets I have, their tank holding capacity might have appeared before as well, but that does not justify them being asked. I do not get government hand outs, I don’t want government hand outs, I pay my taxes and obey the laws. Now, stay out of my life you control freaks and stooges. I don’t care whether you represent a DemocRat or Reputrican administration.