Thread: US Entitlements Crisis: Benefits to Foreign Seniors

I am running this article again, As Congress struggles with how to rein in uncontrolled entitlement spending in the US, it appears that they are overlooking the generous Supplemental Security Income programs, which invites foreigners, many having never worked in the US (officially, anyway), to immigrate via family sponsorship. This New York Times article from two years ago estimates that this particluar population (cuurently under 4 million, will increase to 16 million by 2050.

Besides a monthly stipend of several hundred dollars per month from the federal government, these sponsored immigrants are frequently eligible for state food stamp programs, housing assistance, medical programs, etc. The Congressmen I have talked to seem to think that the 1996 reforms did away with overly generous programs: but, apparently much of it still exists, along with advocates who will explain the ropes to newcomers.

We need to alert our Congressmen that we are aware of this program and demand its curtailment. Why do the parents of legal immigrants also have to come here and qualify for federal and local benefits when their families could send them a much smaller contribution to help them in their own countries? And how do we know that these family members are not working at the same time, perhaps assistng in a family business? Any of our entitlement programs can become subject to fraud and abuse and SSI is no exception. Assistance to people who have never even worked here, or worked very little, is another way to bleed us dry.

Write, fax, call or email your own Congressman. Or email to the Chief of staff, Andy Speth, for Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), architect of entitlement reform:
speth@mail.house.gov

Wouldn't it be better for Congress to cut a program like SSI to foreign citizens and leave Social Security alone?

Social Security Administration link:
http://www.ssa.gov/ssi/spotlights/spot-non-citizens.htm
US Health and Human Services link:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/immigration/res ... -sum.shtml


Invisible Immigrants, Old and Left With ‘Nobody to Talk To’
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/us/31elder.html

By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
Published: August 30, 2009

FREMONT, Calif. — They gather five days a week at a mall called the Hub, sitting on concrete planters and sipping thermoses of chai. These elderly immigrants from India are members of an all-male group called The 100 Years Living Club. They talk about crime in nearby Oakland, the cheapest flights to Delhi and how to deal with recalcitrant daughters-in-law.

Together, they fend off the well of loneliness and isolation that so often accompany the move to this country late in life from distant places, some culturally light years away.

“If I don’t come here, I have sealed lips, nobody to talk to,â€

People tend to also overlook that ts not just SSSI that they can get but SS also with a simple waiver often granted. SS waivers for immigrant elderly are very common and pretty much now being done in mass. The assumption has been SS assumes these immigrants paid into a similiar system back home so they shouldn't of lost out because of immigrating, thus they can be given credit waivers if they are immigrants. This goes for immigrants who didn't put in even enough for 1 credit or who did put in credits but not enough.

An estimated 7% of the current SS payments are to immigrants who never put in the full required amount of work credits to recieve.

Oh boo-hoo. Poor old people comin here and getting OUR money to live. Maybe if those old men didn"t sit around bad-mouthin their daughter-in-laws, they would be more welcome in their homes. Poor things, I guess I should go hire a clown to cheer them up.

We'll get nowhere if people don't start contacting their Congressmen. I have personally spoken to three US representatives about this---including Representative Ryan, who was here during the gubernatorial campaign. That was how I knew about Andrew Speth. I trust he is relaying these comments. If only one hundred people would send a communication it would at least raise it to their attention. Ryan supposedly has a blueprint for entitlement reform, but he didn't seem to know this was a major, and unneeded expenditure.

One would think it would be easier to tackle this than to plan major changes in Social Security.