http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20070104-120950-4277r
Social Security for illegal aliens
By Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 4, 2007
An agreement the Bush administration reached with Mexico on Social Security
benefits would allow illegal aliens granted amnesty in the future to claim
credit for the time they worked illegally.
The deal was reached in 2004 but never released publicly because it
hasn't been submitted to Congress. The TREA Senior Citizens League, a Social
Security advocacy group, recently obtained the document through a Freedom of
Information Act, and said it confirms the group's worst fears.
The document is a jumble of definitions and legal language, but a
spokesman for the group said what's important is what's not in the text: It
does nothing to prevent undocumented aliens who later get legal status from
receiving benefits for the time they worked illegally. And that comes as the
Social Security system's finances are about to be put under greater strain
by the retirement of baby boomers.
"If you open up the trust fund to people who have been working in the
country illegally for many years, that bankruptcy date can only come
sooner," spokesman Brad Phillips said. "People on the other side of this,
people who have been arguing that of course illegal aliens can't get their
hands on Social Security benefits, now can't make that argument easily
anymore."
But Mark Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration,
said the agreement doesn't change U.S. law. The law states that those who do
not have authorization to work will not get benefits under a totalization
agreement.
"To get Social Security benefits, you do have to be legally in the
United States. This agreement does not address in any way immigration,
immigration laws or override current law," he said, adding that a 2004 law,
the Social Security Protection Act, prevents illegal aliens from getting
benefits.
But the seniors group said the 2004 law also states that if those aliens
later get legal status -- through an amnesty or some sort of legalization
plan such as the one President Bush and the Senate tried to enact last year
-- they would be able to collect the benefits based on their time as illegal
workers.
The deal has not taken effect because Mr. Bush has not signed it or
submitted it to Congress. Once he does, Congress would have 60 days to vote
against it or it automatically would become law.
Congress has never defeated any of the 21 other totalization agreements
the United States has reached. Most of those have been with European
nations, with the financial effects known to be smaller.
Some lawmakers say Mr. Bush has not submitted the agreement because it
would get caught up in the debate over Social Security's poor fiscal health,
which could doom the measure.
Totalization agreements end double taxation, so workers have to pay only
into one country's system, and allow a worker who didn't have enough credits
in any one country to qualify for benefits to pool his or her credits. In
the United States, it takes 10 years, or 40 quarters, to qualify.
Mr. Lassiter said that's not to say Mexican workers who spent less time,
such as the six quarters minimum needed to pool credits, would get benefits
equal to someone who had worked his or her full life here.
As for the document's status, he said the Social Security Administration
hasn't submitted it to the State Department because officials are still
waiting for the Mexican government to help reach a side agreement on how to
treat illegal aliens. The United States sent a diplomatic note trying to
clarify the situation but has not heard back from the Mexican government, he
said.
"At this point, there's no action that is planned or that will be taken
until that process goes through," Mr. Lassiter said.
Rafael Laveaga, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said
the agreement has to be ratified by the Mexican Congress as well, but beyond
that he had no details to offer.
The issue has been contentious for several years.
A 2003 report by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative
branch, said the agreement with Mexico was shoddy work that didn't
investigate the reliability of Mexico's data, or take into account the
millions of illegal aliens who would become eligible.
The GAO also disputed the Social Security Administration's estimate that
the agreement would cost $105 million a year for the first five years,
saying the costs could be much higher given the uncertainty of who could
benefit.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
--------------------------
Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
--------------------------
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.intellnet.org
Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods,
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,'
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
