Can census takers enter your home when you aren't there?

"Census workers can enter your apartment in your absence | The Barr Code

By Belisarius on May 27, 2010 11:33 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

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?"

I think this article is BS....I read through all of Title 13 of the US Code and I find NOWHERE that it states census workers can enter your home while you are not there, in fact they are not even allowed to ask for permission to enter your home if you ARE there..... I suppose, for purposes of the article, that it just depends on what your definition of "can" is....