President Bush recently kicked off a new effort to unite Congress behind his immigration proposals.  Promising to crack down on the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States, he insisted that stronger enforcement must also be accompanied with a guest immigrant worker program.  His proposal would let millions of illegal immigrants gain legal status for a yet undetermined period of time, but then would require them to return to their home countries, a provision that TREA Senior Citizens League (TSCL) believes is totally unworkable.

TSCL is fiercely fighting the proposal and a related, highly controversial U.S./Mexico Social Security Totalization Agreement because of the enormous potential cost to Social Security.  With the system already facing long-term financing problems, the drain could trigger deep cuts affecting both current and future retirees.

Under President Bush’s guest worker proposal, millions of illegal immigrants already here in the United States would gain access to valid Social Security numbers.  Social Security law permits immigrants who get valid numbers to have the work they performed while they were illegal credited to their Social Security record.  Immigrants may thus draw Social Security benefits based on illegal work.  This would also be the case under the pending U.S./Mexico Totalization treaty.

TSCL has submitted testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration speaking out against the Mexico "Totalization" Treaty and the abuse of Social Security funds.  "TSCL is concerned that allowing individuals who have worked in this country illegally with invalid Social Security numbers to collect benefits will cause great detriment to the Social Security Trust Fund and will, in effect, place a stamp of endorsement on illegal acts…"

The League continues to mobilize grassroots supporters to protest Totalization and press Congress to formally disapprove the Agreement, thus blocking it from taking effect.

Sources:  "Bush Renews Push to Overhaul Immigration," Richard Stevenson, The New York Times, November 29, 2005.  "Bush Seeks to Bridge Republican Spit on Immigration Plans," Nicholas Johnston and William McQuillen, Bloomberg, November 29, 2005.

February 2006