Despite new legislation intended to prevent immigrants who are currently illegal from receiving Social Security, the law has not significantly reduced the number of illegal immigrants receiving benefits.  According to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Social Security Administration has improperly approved a substantial portion of the claims for benefits involving “noncitizen” workers.

Until recently the federal government allowed immigrants to collect Social Security, whether they were legal or not, provided they met certain residency requirements.  In March of 2004 however, Congress passed the Social Security Protection Act.  Effective January 1, 2004, immigrants must first have a work-authorized Social Security number from current or past qualifying work to collect benefits.  Although few immigrants have been affected so far, the Social Security Administration nevertheless improperly approved almost every claim of “noncitizen” workers who had been issued a Social Security number after the effective date, but who lacked the required work authorization.

With  “guest worker” immigration legislation pending that would legalize millions of illegal immigrants, and the U.S. – Mexico Totalization Agreement also waiting in the wings, concerns are growing among some Members of Congress about whether more illegal immigrants should be allowed to become eligible for Social Security benefits.  According to estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center, as many as 12 million immigrants are in this country illegally, and now account for as many as one in every 20 workers.

Your responses to our e-mail alerts, this newsletter, our full-page newspaper ads and our national mail appeals are having an effect on elected lawmakers.  We are calling on members of the House and Senate to press our points here in Washington. We tell them about the thousands of you who have signed our mail or online petitions in support of preserving Social Security for legal citizens.  If you have not already signed our petition, you can do it right now, online, here: http://www.tscl.org/action/illegalamnestya.asp

As Members of Congress campaign this fall, won’t you please help us continue to keep the pressure on?  Please protest this giveaway of our hard earned Social Security!

Source:  “Additional Actions Needed to Prevent Improper Benefit Payments Under Social Security Protection Act”, Government Accountability Office, April 2006, GAO-06-196.  “Number of Illegal Immigrants Hits 12M”, The Associated Press, March 7, 2006.

August 2006