Immigrants had to be healthy to come here in 1952. My family from Scotland had to all get a physical and a clean bill of health in 1952 before coming here, had to have our Priest guarantee our character (you could not immigrate if there was a hint of moral turpitude). Also, at that time you needed an American sponsor who guaranteed paying for your health coverage if you got sick and were unable to pay, feed you if you were out of work as you could not get coverage for welfare, etc., for the first 5 years. And you had to have a job waiting for the head of household upon arrival. I have heard it was Pres. Kennedy who changed the country’s quotas for visas, and all the immigration laws...now you get off plane and get welfare immediately if needed, plus medicaid, etc. We were fortunate in that our family were all hard workers and never needed any government assistance...unless you now count my SSAN payments as a “federal benefit”.
I agree. I posted an article on Ellis Island last week, I think. It noted some 120,000 potential immigrants had been deported to their country of origin for not passing health and other requirements. (The gov’t and media try to sell us on America having this big open door that welcomed everyone with open arms no matter what. Hogwash.)
So far as social security. If you’re one of the suckers (like me) who has had to pay into this flimflam operation all these years then you deserve to get your money back. Had we been allowed to invest it, it would be an awful lot more than what we see in those SSN checks each month.