Big Brother is here...

[Diane Amberg]

Billy, we have regulations here on just how many people can be crammed into apartments and such....for health reasons. If a renter tells his landlord, (with a small house on septic and well) that he, his wife and two children are moving in, and then he sneaks in his "cousin," wife, and 5 kids, they'll super charge the septic system in a relatively short time and it will fail. As a university town, we have lots of rental properties. You can only have the owner and 3 unrelated people, if the owner lives on the property. It does affect our water and sewer, trash pick up, parking etc. Some of our utilities are included in the rent. You pack 'em in there, the land lord could actually lose money! And thanks David, I should have mentioned the House.

[frawin]

The biggest error in the census is the Illegals that are not counted.

[dnalexander]

The biggest error in the census is the Illegals that are not counted.

Maybe I am missing your point. Illegals are counted in the Census. Some states actually have gained seats in the House due to large populations of illegal and\or non-citizens in a district. There is a growing movement to have all non-citizens excluded from the Census numbers that are used to apportion House seats.

David

[Diane Amberg]

Frank, why do you think illegals aren't counted? They aren't deliberately left out or separated out The forms are sent to addresses. The census takers on the streets aren't ICE. Some may not be counted, but certainly not all are missed.

[Varmit]

By right hands I meant a private organization that has no stake in the outcome.


Illegals should not be counted.  If found, they should be deported.

[frawin]

Diane, I lived in far West Texas thru 3 census and I can tell you that very few of the Illegals are counted. The illegals and their legal relatives are very careful to see that the illegals are not  counted as they do not want to be pinpointed and sent back to Mexico or whereever else they come from. Do you think if they send a census form to a 3 room house with 20 illegals living in it that all 20 complete a form and say I am illegal and I live here, come get me. They either ignore the form, move or get someone that can help them fill it out showing one or two people live there. Besides many of the illegals don't stay in one place long enough to be counted.

[frawin]

It is not uncommon to see 20-30-40 illegals living in a 2-3 room shack, they are not all, if any included in the census.

[dnalexander]

By right hands I meant a private organization that has no stake in the outcome.


Illegals should not be counted.  If found, they should be deported.

The Constitution requires everyone to be counted so get started writing your Constitutional Amendment. I have no problem with illegal aliens being deported, but the law prohibits Census data from being used to enforce other laws such as immigration. Now if you want to talk about all the "big brother" questions they ask besides how many people in the household I am with you. It is a right to privacy issue in my opinion for citizens and non-citizens alike.

David

[dnalexander]

It is not uncommon to see 20-30-40 illegals living in a 2-3 room shack, they are not all, if any included in the census.

They definitely are under counted, I have seen similar situations here in California.

David

[Diane Amberg]

  Frank and Billy, if you were the census taker how would you know if you were talking to an illegal? Do you think they would tell you?    Frank, I'm not  disagreeing, I know what they do. But no effort is made at census time to leave out illegals.  We have fewer here now. As the jobs have dried up many have gone home. (The local legal immigrants want those jobs!)  Plus, a bunch more were caught and deported. There is one form sent per household and the information is put on it. In areas where under counts are suspected, a census taker may go to the address.