http://www.tscl.org/NewContent/102822.asp

TSCL Raises $520 Billion Illegal Alien Question


The federal government finally released the first public copy of the U.S. – Mexico Social Security Agreement to TREA Senior Citizens League after TSCL's three-year effort to obtain it under the Freedom of Information Act. The public is now beginning to see more clearly the way in which the Social Security Administration, the Bush Administration and the State Department have moved ahead with a treaty that would make Social Security's problems much worse.

TSCL has made copies of the Totalization Agreement with Mexico available to interested Members of Congress. As of January 2007 when TSCL first publicized its receipt of the Agreement, Members of Congress, including Representative John Culberson (TX), had been unsuccessful in getting a copy from the Administration. Congressman Culberson states, "I am concerned that if Congress grants amnesty or creates a guest worker program for people who entered this country illegally, Mexican immigrants could obtain work authorization and a Social Security card. Amnesty, coupled with a ratified Totalization Agreement, would then allow millions of Mexicans in the U.S. to use their new status to receive Social Security benefits based on the number of quarters (time) they worked in this country illegally."

Have you signed TSCL's Petition to Congress Protesting Illegal Alien Amnesty 'Guest Worker' Legislation and U.S. Social Security Totalization With Mexico?

In addition, TSCL is publicizing a poorly understood loop-hole in Social Security law that apparently would allow immigrants to receive benefits based on work while illegal. To legally work in this country, U.S. law requires immigrants to have work authorization and a valid, "work-authorized" Social Security number. In order to get one, immigrants must be in this country under a work visa. The government, however, limits the number of these work visas, but immigrants nevertheless can and often do get jobs. All too often fraudulent, fake, or Social Security numbers from cards that are prominently marked "NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT," are supplied to employers.

When employers send in wage reports for individuals whose names and numbers don't match those of Social Security, they go into an "earnings suspense file." According to the Congressional Research Service, by July of last year the file contained an estimated $520 billion in wage records. The wage reports don't represent a penny of real money. Wage records are used by the Social Security Administration to determine the initial retirement benefit that a worker is entitled to when he or she files a claim for benefits. Thus if this Totalization Agreement goes through, a substantial portion of the reports in the "earnings suspense file" could represent billions in claims for benefits in just a few years.

There is no official published data on what amount of wages is directly attributable to immigrants who are working here illegally. However, Social Security Administration Inspector General Patrick P. O'Carroll testified before Congress that "we believe the chief cause of wage items being posted to the [earnings suspense file] instead of an individual's earnings record is unauthorized work by non-citizens."

More beneficiaries would be added to Social Security's rolls than just workers who become eligible. Social Security also pays survivors benefits, spousal benefits, benefits for dependent parents and dependent minors, benefits for divorced spouses and survivors. In addition, Social Security pays benefits for disabled workers and their families. For example, a worker who retired at age 66 in 2006 with an initial monthly benefit of $1,700 had a total maximum family benefit available of $2,917.50 in 2006. The annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) raised the benefit to $1,756.10 in 2007 and the maximum family benefit to $3,013.70.

TSCL is supporting legislation introduced in the Senate by Senator John Ensign (NV), S. 43, and in the House by Representative Barbara Cubin (WY), H.R. 279, that would require Congressional approval before Social Security benefits could be paid to foreign workers who were employed in the United States. Says Senator Ensign, "The U.S.-Mexico Totalization Agreement is unacceptable and threatens the retirement benefits of hardworking Americans while rewarding those who have committed a felony such as identity theft. My legislation is important to ensure that public debate, scrutiny, and analysis take place before vital Social Security dollars are sent overseas. We should not be rewarding people for illegal work. This is a matter of fairness to the American people and a matter of fiscal responsibility."

Sources: "Social Security Benefits for Non-citizens," Congressional Research Service, July 20, 2006, RL32004. "The Budget and Economic Outlook," CBO, August 2006.



March 2007