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
Charles
May 27th, 2010
7:13 pm
I think this is wrong even if there is a Census “rule”. If challenged in court, there is still a 4th Ammendment right against illegal search and seizure without a warrent by any Government entity. The Constitution requires a Census every ten years, but any Ammendment trumps anything previously written in the Constitution. Neither the Congress nor the Census Bureau can pass any law or rule that trumps the Constitution or an Ammendment.
LD
May 27th, 2010
7:13 pm
It is mandated by the constitution from the beginning of this republic…it is a sin let alone a crime people feel they will not comply. Just shut up and do your duty and if not get the F out. We are a nation of laws and this sissy government should enforce the laws to the teeth. I volunteered to do the census to get a bead of whats going on in my neighborhood and I have found the new immigrants comply fully and the ugly American is nasty and does not comply. I wish I could arrest them on the spot….I am a conservative Republican and and I am sick and tired of my fellow citizens….
Sam
May 27th, 2010
7:13 pm
I wonder which congress gave them the enabling language to be able to do that? Was it a Barr congress? Aren’t careful congressmen and senators wonderful?!
KYRick
May 27th, 2010
7:14 pm
I avoided the census taker, but the nosy B$%#% gave my neighbor the second degree and he gave her the info about my household. BTW there was an Obama sticker on her vehicle.
missinformation not needed
May 27th, 2010
7:15 pm
How WRONG you are…
Give access to the building or provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
AmericanJim
May 27th, 2010
7:15 pm
But what if there are GUNS in the home????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
M
May 27th, 2010
7:15 pm
Lock n Load folks.
norgeblonde
May 27th, 2010
7:16 pm
Two days ago, a census worker rang my door bell. She acknowledged that I had returned a complete form but she wanted to know if I would “act as a proxy” (her words) for the neighbor next door who had not returned the form and was not at home. She wanted me to answer all of the questions on behalf of the neighbor. I refused and told her it was inappropriate. I could have made up some bizarre answers and no one would have never checked to see if any were valid. Makes you wonder how much of this is happening across the country.
Field Rep
May 27th, 2010
7:16 pm
TOTALLY FALSE! I am a field representative of the Census Bureau since 2007, and also worked as an enumerator during the decennial in 2000, & can assure you we are under no circumstances allowed to enter an inhabited dwelling.
Mr. L
May 27th, 2010
7:17 pm
You should recheck your facts, Mr. Barr.
On the official website for the census, it states:
“Most importantly, the Census Bureau will NEVER, under any circumstances, ask to enter your home.”
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/privacy/more-security-topics.php
The stories you are reporting may be phishing scams by people posing to be census workers.
Field Rep
May 27th, 2010
7:17 pm
To clarify, we cannot enter an inhabited dwelling WITHOUT PERMISSION
wrong
May 27th, 2010
7:19 pm
How WRONG you are…
Give access to the building or provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
Condor
May 27th, 2010
7:21 pm
How does knowing the race of the occupants of my house relate to apportionment of representatives. If we have equal protection under the law, then race is irrelevant. The only reason to know the race of people living here is to either deny something or provide something to them based on that race.
On another note. Why do those same race questions include a half dozen different flavors for Hispanics?
Walk
May 27th, 2010
7:21 pm
I live in an apartment and got the notice. I even mailed it in after some time had elapsed with the information provided. I subsequently got a call from “Bob” with the census… on my cell phone. So I’m pretty sure that my landlord gave out my number.
wrong o
May 27th, 2010
7:21 pm
How WRONG you are…
Give access to the building or provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
Lemming
May 27th, 2010
7:22 pm
And what if they happened to work for ACORN? If they steal cash is it a legal donation?
marybbbbb
May 27th, 2010
7:22 pm
I had an especially unusual experience with a census worker today. She asked me if I was occupying the house I am in on April 1st. Then proceeded to ask me if anyone other than my recorded family members had slept in the house that evening. If so who are they and basically why were they here. Even if it were a friend sleeping over on my couch that nigh. Who was she? Does anyone find this odd? I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.
Stu
May 27th, 2010
7:23 pm
When do we get to enter the white house to get the illegal presidents birth certificate and find out why the nigerian has a Conecticut Social Security number?
Caroline Miniscule
May 27th, 2010
7:23 pm
Trying to stop the illegals coming into the US is beyond the powers of the US government, but census takers can enter your home when you aren’t there? Scary.
wrong o
May 27th, 2010
7:24 pm
Mary.. it’s just a back up question to remind you if anyone else was there.. then also a cross reference..
so wrong
May 27th, 2010
7:24 pm
How WRONG you are…
Give access to the building or provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
thedude
May 27th, 2010
7:25 pm
I would advise them not to try that in my neighborhood. People take their apartment and their stuff in the apartment very seriously.
alwatanrim
May 27th, 2010
7:26 pm
موقع موريتاني ثقافي متنوع يقدم ثقافة بلاد شنقيط بأسلوب عصري مع جديد التقنيات ومتابعة آخر الأخبار الوطنية والدولية مع مناقشات ثقافية وإبداعات فنية متنوعة
منتديات الوطن الموريتانية
http://www.alwatanrim.net
Craig
May 27th, 2010
7:27 pm
Wake up people, there was a lady shot to death because she didn’t want to answer their questions. The government interperets the law any damn way it wants. Everything the government does is a conspirisy to defraud the general public and they are incompitent at everything they do, but they distroy lives and dreams and you liberal twits opinion means nothing to us the same way ours means nothing to you. the big difference is when liberals say “All Americans, they mean the 20 percent that follow them. when the conservatives say all Americans, they mean the 76% that follow them. the only reason liberals still get elected is that all election officals are liberals. and because of the Illegal alien vote which they get 95 percent of.
Kevin
May 27th, 2010
7:28 pm
FILL OUT the census form and there will be no need for the census worker to come to your residence!! People are idiots!!
get it right
May 27th, 2010
7:28 pm
How WRONG you are…
A manager should give access to an apartment building OR provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
get it right
May 27th, 2010
7:29 pm
If you agree with this article you are a fool… learn before you speak..
bad
May 27th, 2010
7:30 pm
How WRONG you are…
A manager should give access to an apartment building OR provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
YehudaSF
May 27th, 2010
7:30 pm
Interesting to note that a particularly “dedicated” socialist pig obamanation worshipper has posted the same bs comment twelve times thus far in these comments. Just like the nazi thuglings that they are, if they cannot sway with intellect, the will cheat and lie (multiple identical postings under different user names) and attempt to drown out any discourse with their odious lies and spam. One can but hope he dies drowning in the blood of his slaughtered offspring.
bad article
May 27th, 2010
7:30 pm
How WRONG you are…
A manager should give access to an apartment building OR provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
Lora
May 27th, 2010
7:30 pm
Bob: You are completely wrong, and I am disappointed that you are spreading this rumor. I regret voting for you.
Rockmelon
May 27th, 2010
7:30 pm
I would like to see one of the workers enter my abode! It ain’t gonna be pretty……. They may walk in, but they are not going to “walk” out! I guarantee it.
BB
May 27th, 2010
7:30 pm
You have got to be kidding me. Census workers are American citizens too. The hatred and name calling on here is absurd. Most government workers are just making a living like everybody else. How much lawmaking and underhanded political dealing do you think somebody making $15 an hour is involved in? This is like yelling at a customer service cashier because you don’t like Target’s return policy.
bad article
May 27th, 2010
7:32 pm
Good grief.. can’t you read? READ… it has to be posted multiple times… so this miss-information is stopped
stop the miss-information
May 27th, 2010
7:32 pm
How WRONG you are…
A manager should give access to an apartment building OR provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
Mark
May 27th, 2010
7:33 pm
My understanding is they hire people to go door to door collecting information from people who DID NOT fill out the form mailed to them. (It is a simple task. Just do it.) For reasons of this article and many from comments such as:
I am certain I saw a TV news item, a couple weeks back, where the US Census hired a (locally) known and registered sex offender. This guy was getting full names, ages, and probably other ‘chatty’ information like schools and schedules, about children, directly from the adults in the home.
Let the government run everything. They are so good at it all.
VOTE. AND VOTE ANGRY.
LOLILAND
May 27th, 2010
7:33 pm
[...] (READ MORE via AJC Blog) [...]
Beerman309
May 27th, 2010
7:34 pm
If one goes into my apartment I hope my dog bites him/her. SOB’s
Keez
May 27th, 2010
7:35 pm
I had a census taker contact me at my job. When I called to complain and to discover how the census worker had obtained my work info, I was told that it must have been on the internet somewhere. I was also told how important it was for me to respond to their questions and repeatedly told that I should just answer their questions. I’m disgusted with the lack of concern for my private information and that in a time that personal information can be used for identity theft, the census worker had obtained information that they should not have obtained.
miss-information 2
May 27th, 2010
7:35 pm
How WRONG you are…
A manager should give access to an apartment building OR provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
wri7913
May 27th, 2010
7:37 pm
“Hillbilly Deluxe at 4:21 pm. Such mountain oysters you have, not giving a phone number and all. Shazamm!”
If you have an unlisted number, there is no reason to give out numbers to people you don’t know.
With the Census asking more obtrusive questions this time around than last, its quite possible the information obtained will be shared or sold to private companies or given to government agencies. If any Government agency feels they have the right to obtain your number, they can do so by first obtaining a court order after having proven just cause to do so. Otherwise, they can shove it for all I care.
miss-information 3
May 27th, 2010
7:38 pm
How WRONG you are…
A manager should give access to an apartment building OR provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
Eyeball
May 27th, 2010
7:38 pm
I wouldn’t try forcing your way into someones home in rural Texas. It could be very unhealthy. Just because someone flashes a ID dont mean nothing. Any criminal could forge an ID.
miss-information 3
May 27th, 2010
7:40 pm
WRONG – Census workers can enter your apartment in your absence
RIGHT – Census workers can enter your apartment BUILDING in your absence
A manager should give access to an apartment building OR provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
miss-information 4
May 27th, 2010
7:41 pm
WRONG – Census workers can enter your apartment in your absence
RIGHT – Census workers can enter your apartment BUILDING in your absence
A manager should give access to an apartment building OR provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html
Don Osborne
May 27th, 2010
7:43 pm
Set up or keep available a camcorder, camera etc. and if not that then at least a recording device or witness.
Rick C.
May 27th, 2010
7:43 pm
Having worked or the Census or a few weeks I never heard them say we could enter someone’s home. In fact we were told not to ask to enter. I would only enter if the person asked me to come in while they were answering the Census. We were also specifically told not to enter their porch if there was a door and to knock on the porch door. We were allowed to question neighbors about an address if we were unsuccessful in contacting the person.
Sam Wilson
May 27th, 2010
7:44 pm
I never got my form, so I called and answered all their questions except for the race ones (your skin color should not matter) and they still stated that they were going to visit my house. I rent and my
wife and I work all the time. How do you know if they went into your house or not. This seems like an extreme invasion of privacy….someone please tell me that this article is wrong !
former democrat
May 27th, 2010
7:45 pm
Just remember to vote these fools out this year and in 2012,
miss-information 5
May 27th, 2010
7:45 pm
WRONG – Census workers can enter your apartment in your absence
RIGHT – Census workers can enter your apartment BUILDING in your absence
A manager should give access to an apartment building OR provide names… one OR the other..
“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”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode13/usc_sec_13_00000223—-000-.html