Explore Census Data She didn't have the common courtesy to disclose that little fact. Most U.S. representatives have local offices. That's a load of crap. Look up the original data at Pew Research. I finally left a voice mail for the person who kept calling me that if I got one more call or personal visit, I was contacting my state senator and tell him I was being harassed. Have to love how the government pays people to harass you. 0607-810 expired on 05/31/2008. how much to start our businesses etc. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. The second visit, I handed him a sealed census envelope, and he came back and left a note that the computer kicked it out. And so is mine. Do I Have to Respond to the ACS? - United States Now Adapting the American Community Survey Amid COVID-19 It seems what is good for the goose is not good for the gander. I sure am glad I ran across this site. I filled out the decennial census. Washington and California residents have filed a proposed class action in which they object to being asked to participate in the American Community Survey, which enquires about certain demographic details more specific than those central to the decennial Census. Please post legal options for readers when census takers are sharing personal information with neighbors! I am absolutely livid right now. To posters 190 and 191: Thank you for your input and advice. The American Community Survey sends around a questionnaire with 40 different items, asking such things as whether a person is receiving disability benefits (number 16) and how many vehicles. This is Government out of control. (address, city, county, state, zip). "The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides vital information on a yearly basis about our nation and its people. The Rutherford Institute has received hundreds of inquiries from individuals who have received the ACS and are not comfortable sharing such private, intimate details with the government or are unsettled by the aggressive tactics utilized by Census Bureau agents seeking to compel responses to ACS questions. I also feel for the ones who fought and died for us, who spit in their graves. Be advised that no matter how intensive your efforts become, nor what kind of fine, penalty, prosecution or imprisonment you may wish to threaten, I, as a free American citizen, will not allow any agency of this government to demand, under penalty of law, that I disclose private and personal information about the members of my household. If it was a problem, she then had my phone number; it wasn't blocked. i wish i still had my camcorder so i could do like the person said. we demand a trial by jury of our pears, but how many wiggle, squirm and lie every which way to get out of serving when it's their turn? As such, any attempt by the government to encroach upon the citizenrys privacy rights or establish a system by which the populace can be targeted, tracked and singled out must be met with extreme caution. and these so called representatives. I am a law abiding American citizen, tax payer (working 2 jobs) and a registered voter, not a criminal or bum or illegal immigrant living off the tax payers. You have no idea. Clemons v. Dep't of Commerce, 562 U.S. 1105 (2010). I am so glad to see I am not alone in not wanting to fill out this survey. I since looked through the forms for the ACS on their site and it does ask far to much personal info. A lock ( By Daniel T. Weaver While liberals celebrated the Trump administration's decision to not include a citizenship question on the 2020 census, they are oblivious to the fact that the question is included in the American Community Survey, what we used to call the census long form. Title 13 of the United States Code, however, requires that the Census Bureau keep this information confidential and subjects employees who violate this confidentiality requirement to a fine of up to $250,000 USD, up to 5 years imprisonment, or both. It felt so good. D. oes anyone understand what is involved in managing 300 million people spread out over an entire continent, each thinking all that matters is their individual needs? According to the Census Bureau, it randomly selects 3.5 million households each year as targets of the ACS. I am appalled by the questions asked on the ACS! Their bosses are going like it even less. The Institute provides its legal services at no charge to persons whos constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated. the Supreme Court's decisions over the years has established that the rights to privacy is a basic human right, and as such is protected by virtue of the 9th amendment. The Census Bureau provides guidelines that prevent harassment or late night calls, although some ACS recipients have complained of getting several calls a day. Hence, you have answered the only question required by the constitution and you might have even increased the possibility for more representatives! I will report her actions to our manager and possibly to her supervisor. (Don't worry there are no cops or former cops that are census workers. The states need to reassert their rights back from the federal government. Class Action: Consumers Take Issue with American Community Survey and Last night I found an envelope on my door from a census taker. I guess I now have a 20 percent chance of getting a Census visitor next. The letter accompanying the census form indicates it's used to decide how many representatives each state has in congress, and how much money my 'neighborhood' receives from the government. Lock and Load. I am just not going to answer any questions. That means *not* having our door pounded on constantly and yelled at that we are violating the law by not allowing these rude, despicable low class jerks into our homes! One month ago, I received a letter stating that the census was coming. By their asking their questions (limited to how many people live here) you have "met" your legal obligation to the Census. me. I very much doubt. Look it up. They came to my door at all hours. The survey also demands to know how many days you were sick last year, how many automobiles you own and the number of miles driven, whether you have trouble getting up the stairs, and what time you leave for work every morning, along with highly detailed inquiries about your financial affairs. What they dont tell you is that the information is available to a long list of private corporation, research agencies and think tanks, who use the information to justify and pursue their own agendas. We mailed in a partially filled out surveys with no birthdays or claims of citizenship (the Arizona authorities can't ask if someone is illegal, according to the feds, so neither can the feds ask me.) Ethical considerations. Someone brought up a good point, either here or on another forum. It is not the same people each time - many different ones wondering around. I am a prisoner in my own home. I contacted an attorney's office on my questions and objections to see if they were valid and what the legal interpretation was of the constitution and the US code. Thus, they cannot use the census as the pretext for the ACS. I am looking into who passed legislation to approve this questionnaire. My family has found past census information to be very valuable in genealogical research. Here are the facts I discovered: Some of the questions asked in this questionnaire are so intrusive that I would not even give this information to my best friends or relatives. I was told if I didn't answer then his supervisor would come out and if I didn't respond to his supervisor, they would return with a Larimer County Sheriff and then I would have to answer or else! No need to respond to the intrusive survey. That is how they get "past the guard". No, they aren't good people just trying to make a living as some might say. If I received the ACS survey in the mail, I would probably just put down the number of people in my household, but there is nothing on the 10 question survey that any Tom, Dick, or Harry can't find out on the internet quite easily. Then I asked the census taker her birth date, and I again got no answer. I pay my taxes honestly, obey the laws of the land, don't speed, don't spit on the sidewalk and I will always open the door for a lady. Funny, we are required to get social security numbers at birth, but the social security administration will not protect that number. I have one final question for anyone who thinks this is just an overreaction to a few census questions: If George Bush and Dick Cheney were sitting in the White House, and Halliburton was storing the data, would you still feel the same way? Anything that you answer can be used for this book, which is usually for your town, county, etc. If you are clear and firm in your refusal they will leave you alone. I work for a defense contractor, and when I applied for a security clearance, there were way fewer questions, and much less invasive than were on the ACS long form. How many is all they need to know. I am an American! Just weeks before a COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be made available to U.S. medical workers and first responders, a firefighters' union internal survey taken by members of the country's largest . Any thoughts? I am one who is living this nightmare: the letters, the phone calls, the personal visits, day in and day out, month after month. I wish you luck. If I receive the same treatment again, I may consider filing a class action lawsuit. Since direct taxes must be apportioned based on population, an enumeration is needed to determine the percentage of tax for each state. Since then, I have received four phone calls from the US Census Bureau. American will also allow most passengers barred from flying for mask noncompliance "to resume travel at some point in time," Gatten said in an earnings call on Thursday. Fact Sheet: Protecting and Advancing Health Care for Transgender Adult [1] The Rutherford Institute, a national nonprofit civil liberties organization, is deeply committed to protecting the constitutional freedoms of every American and the integral human rights of all people through its extensive legal and educational programs. Abcarian: Mask mandates? COVID origins? Why are we still having these Daily calls (five or six) two invasive questionnaires mailed, and now intimidating and threatening phone calls. After the first couple of letters I received I started getting harassing phone calls from them. Keep your posts coming! So far no challenges to our door visitors. they will tell you its the law, but since when do we have to answer to the government who lives in our house and who they are related to and what time we go to work, what time to we return? He stated I would receive no further calls from the census but the next contact would be from the Justice department. A final note to those of you who are, or consider yourself Republicans: ACS after initial testing, "went national" in 2004. Don't touch them and if they do touch you, even slightly, fall down and don't get up until an ambulance arrives. No one from the Census has been escorted off your property by the police - Title 13 gives them the right to be on your property. This is a very big, complicated country we live in. This government is OUT OF CONTROL! They do snoop around. There were laws in place to protect those people and they were not protected. You fill it out and keep it moving- we don't want to. I love hearing this we live in the greatest country. and even spells it. Now they harass us all of the time. Shame on you! [33] Gardner Selby, Americans Must Answer U.S. Census Bureau Survey by Law, Though Agency Hasn't Prosecuted since 1970, Politifact, http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2014/jan/09/us-census-bureau/americans-must-answer-us-census-bureau-survey-law-/. Constitution of the United States of America. We pay as much tax as a so called socialist country about 40 percent, but get nothing in return. What Percent of the US Population do Lawyers Comprise. It's paranoid people like you all who cause your communities not to get the funding they need. We need to take a stand and not put up with all the socialist crap the government wants us to do. When are they going to get the hint and stop? My husband and daughter fielded a few of them and honestly told the workers they didn't have the information or the form so they'd have to try to catch me. Optimize Your Non-Profit with Census Data. He gave his name and the number of people living here and refused to answer anything else. It can't be done if the government is a complex, dishonest mess. Constitutional Q&A: American Community Survey - Rutherford Not more that 10 minutes ago, a person came to the door unannounced, said she was from the ACS, and did I have a few minutes to fill out the survey. What? That's why every selfish person here complains that the government doesn't use resources in the right place; the government waits too long to address problems; the government wastes money. Perhaps act so insanely crazy they will be glad to leave. (We filled out and mailed our census form as soon as we received it.) They have to get past the doorman first. The lawsuit looks to include all persons whom the United States Department of Commerce and Bureau of the Census requires to answer the American Community Survey but who have refused or will refuse to answer it. Make the Census people eat this Supreme Court ruling: Neither branch of the legislative department [House of Representatives or Senate], still less any merely administrative body [insert Census Bureau], established by congress, possesses, or can be invested with, a general power of making inquiry into the private affairs of the citizen." Granted, I'm sure they can find it, but the census would have had to use some powers beyond their department to find it, since I intentionally left that form blank on the 2010 census. Just say, "I respectfully decline." I first starting receiving these things by mail like 4 years ago. The Census Act of 1976 specifically prohibits the use of statistical sampling in the creation of congressional districts. Firm, clear refusal. I may not bother with this anyway. I assume she was a supervisor. I was not in a hurry since I already had done this once. No way was I going to submit that kind of info. American Community Survey: https://www.census.gov/acs Chicago Regional Office 1 (630) 288-9200 or 1-800-865-6384 [email protected] Heartland Institute: www.heartland.org The. We need to stick up for our rights. Got this survey in the mail and opened it and started reading the questions and couldn't believe it I was so pissed off, it's really none of their business. Lock Our world leaders are puppets, and the puppet master is greed. See Clemons v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce, 710 F. Supp. At that point I stepped in and said goodbye. I will file a class action suit against the Government if they continue to harass me and hope to gain momentum in order to force the government to be liable for any information lost on their part. I went through this myself and I read a Web forum that spanned several years with posters who had received the form, and what they had experienced. I remember the paperwork that I signed, highlighted the fact that it was a temporary position with no benefits of any sort. [4] After a decennial census is conducted, states which have increases in population may gain additional seats in the House of Representatives at the expense of other states. The woman was carrying a clip board. A practice in which banks refuse to insure mortgages to people living in certain As one post on this site said "bring it on.". As us Cajuns say: Hell froze over when the Saints won the Super Bowl last season. The oath means something to us and I for one am going to continue to tell them to stick it where the Sun Does Not Shine! Fix this problem, fix that, insure this, promise that, but do it without any info, just throw a dart and hope for the best, then when it fails we'll have someone to blame it on, but it won't be our fault! Statistical analysis It's hard to believe that a patriotic, high school social studies teacher, and law-abiding citizen, such as myself, could be compelled to suggest such civil disobedience--but here I am, and hear me loud. By the time the phone calls started I had researched the ACS and knew what the game was and that the threat of fines was bogus. I have received two forms, and have no intention of responding. I told her again that I already gave the required info by law and there is no reason to give all that other information. A tactic that is used too frequently in our society as a means of control. Stonewall them out. Government entities do illegal things. After 40 years and right before everybody in the country is supposed to reply to the 2010 census? There is only a theoretical possibility that they could fine you. At first, I completed the survey, sealed it in the envelope, and then did not send it. I included a note with the returned survey stating that I would continue to refuse to answer these additional questions as a matter of principle, and I requested that no phone calls or visits to my home be made by your agency. She was asking the questions again and I told her that I already filled out the form so there is no reason for me to fill it out again. She said actually it's mandatory. And you just know that if I answer a survey about college, they will just send me another next year and keep tracking me. The US Census Bureau says it's an essential tool in collecting relevant and timely data in order to understand and finance local needs for things like roads and schools. A week later, a woman came to my door and said they hadn't received my form. 1. I assumed I did it wrong, so I filled out the second one and sent that in. [5] Unlike the decennial census which is sent out every 10 years, the ACS is an ongoing survey that is sent out on a continuous basis by the Census Bureau.[6]. When does their employment end, and shouldn't they be thanking these non-compliant people for extending their pay a bit longer? And the Justice Dept is not going to spend time on this. (The car had to pass my house to get to the neighbors.) She finally walked away but now I am sleepless as a result of this because I am not certain as to what will happen next. The other info that the ACS wants can be obtained from other Departments. On the back of the ACS form it states: "Respondents are not required to respond to any information collection unless it displays a valid approval number from the Office of Management and Budget.". She said she would mark me down as 'refused' If someone actually shows up I am going to take control of the interview and video my demand that they leave and not come back, and their response. We had a census worker come to our door who started asking personal questions, until my hubby finally said that's enough.