Bush Plan: Social Security for 'Legalized' Illegal Aliens

(CNSNews.com) - Illegal aliens who work under borrowed, stolen or fraudulent Social Security numbers could collect retirement benefits based on their illegal earnings as the result of a Bush administration plan. Critics charge the federal government has grossly underestimated the cost of the proposal, which they believe could run be billions of dollars per year.

Congress is expected to vote on some combination of proposed changes to immigration laws as early as next week, according to sources working with the House Homeland Security and Judiciary committees. While members have not been able to reach agreement on the details of a temporary or "guest worker" program advocated by President Bush, the White House might use the legislative opportunity to seek approval for an International Social Security Agreement with Mexico, something it has wanted for more than two years.

Mark Kirkorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told Cybercast News Service that the arrangements, usually called "totalization agreements," with industrialized countries like Canada, the United Kingdom and even France are beneficial. But those benefits, he argued, would not come from an agreement with Mexico.

"The point to a totalization agreement is for two advanced countries that occasionally send corporate transferees from one country to the next for a two or three year stint to be able to reconcile their respective retirement systems," Kirkorian said. "It's not for a third world country that sends millions of peasants into a developed country to take advantage of; there's a complete mismatch, an imbalance."

Kirkorian points out a number of differences between the U.S. and Mexican Social Security systems including:

The U.S. pays greater benefits to lower income workers whereas Mexico pays out only the premiums paid in, plus accrued interest; and

Most Mexican workers avoid their country's Social Security system by working in the "underground economy," while most U.S. workers have Social Security taxes automatically collected from their wages.

The U.S. has entered into totalization agreements with 20 countries since 1978. The Social Security Administration (SSA) describes the arrangements on its website:

"[These] agreements have two main purposes. First, they eliminate dual Social Security taxation -- the situation that occurs when a worker from one country works in another country and is required to pay Social Security taxes to both countries on the same earnings," the SSA site explains. "Second, the agreements help fill gaps in benefit protection for workers who have divided their careers between the United States and another country."

Congress does not have to give approval for the totalization agreements, but lawmakers are given the opportunity to vote them down. SSA Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart explained the benefits of totalization for U.S. employers and employees during her Sept. 11, 2003 testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims.

"Without totalization the combined Social Security tax rate that U.S. employers and employees working in foreign countries must pay often approaches 40 percent or more of total payroll," Barnhart testified.

In March of 2003, the SSA's Office of the Chief Actuary estimated that a totalization agreement with Mexico would cost the U.S. $78 million in the first year, growing to $650 million (in constant 2002 dollars) by 2050. That determination assumed that the initial number of newly eligible Mexican recipients would be equal to the 50,000 beneficiaries then living in Mexico, and that the eligible number would grow to only 300,000 over the next 48 years.

But the agency now known as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) GAO report disputed that estimate.

"[T]his proxy figure does not directly consider the estimated millions of current and former unauthorized workers and family members from Mexico and appears small in comparison with those estimates," the GAO determined. "The estimate also inherently assumes that the behavior of Mexican citizens would not change and does not recognize that an agreement could create an additional incentive for unauthorized workers to enter the United States to work and maintain documentation to claim their earnings under a false identity."

Kirkorian believes those would be the unintended consequences of the president's proposed "guest worker" program.

"If the president gets his way and [those illegal aliens are] legalized, and he submits this totalization agreement to Congress," Kirkorian warned, "then all of the illegal aliens who get this 'amnesty' that he wants, get to count all of their Social Security payments when they were illegal toward their eventual retirement."

Barnhart told the congressional subcommittee that such an outcome could not happen.

"As is the case with our existing agreements, a totalization agreement with Mexico would not alter current law on this issue," Barnhart testified. "Totalization agreements do not have any effect on the prohibition against payment of benefits to illegal aliens in the United States."

But if Congress approves the president's "guest worker" plan, the "adjusted" status of previously illegal employees would mean that they would no longer be excluded from eligibility for Social Security payments.

"What they want is for illegal aliens who 'adjust' to some kind of legal status to be able to count their illegal work toward Social Security," Kirkorian said. "That's not up for contention, that's just a fact. The Social Security Administration negotiated the agreement, already, with Mexico."

A March 2003 report by the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General (SSA-OIG) validates Kirkorian's concern.

"SSA's practice allows non-citizens to work illegally in the U.S. economy for a number of years, eventually acquire a valid SSN and have these earnings posted to their valid SSNs, and then receive [Social Security] benefits as a result of those earnings," the inspector general reported. "SSA does not consider the work-authorization status of the individual when they earned the wages; it only considers whether the individual can prove he or she paid Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) taxes as part of this work."

Data from the 2000 Census indicate that 9.1 million Mexican citizens are living in the United States, 4.8 million of them illegally. The SSA-OIG report speculated about the impact that those illegal aliens could have if they became eligible for U.S. Social Security benefits.

"If these Mexican non-citizens are also working in the United States illegally, and an amnesty and/or totalization agreement occurs," the report warned, "SSA potentially may need to reinstate a large volume of [Social Security taxes paid under false or fraudulent account numbers] based on earlier unauthorized work."

Marti Dinerstein, president of Immigration Matters, also criticized the SSA in a September 2004 report entitled "Social Security 'Totalization' - Examining a Lopsided Agreement with Mexico," for using Canada as the model for its Mexican totalization cost estimates.

"The estimated number of Canadians living in the United States is 820,000," Dinerstein wrote. "Given the fact that a totalization agreement would cover not just Mexican workers but also their spouses and dependents, it is highly likely that over time, potentially millions of people would receive U.S. Social Security benefits and the cost would be in the billions of dollars."

"It's pretty ludicrous, frankly," Kirkorian concluded. "Mexico is just not the kind of country that you should be having this kind of agreement with."

I don't understand what people have against Bush on the borders.

He is for predator drones on the border which Clinton was against.

Bush has just ended the catch and release policy that was allowed under clinton of non mexicans that were within 100 miles of the border.

Bush has added 3,000 border patrol.

Bush has added detainee beds.

Bush signed the real id act into law which the dems opposed.

Bush has called for congress to pass legislation to speed up the deportation hearings.

Bush signed into law completing the fence south of san diego which the dems opposed.

Under Bush the illegals caught in Mexico get sent back inland to their towns instead of right across the border which Clinton did and they would cross right back again.

Republicans are also pushing for a change in the census laws, employer laws, and in state tuition laws.

Bush has done everything he could have. The constitution bars federal troops on the border. The dems will fillabuster anything that will really hurt their illegal votes.

Bush has done far more than Bill Clinton ever did.

Bush's guest worker program is dead on arrival in the house.
I don't understand all this talk about his program when the house said they won't vote for it.

I am totally against illegals but one of the reasons some are for the guest worker program for the 25 million illegals here is that it will get them out of the shadows so we can get info on them and deport them.

What we really need are local police to start arresting illegals. We need local police to crack down on day labor centers. We also need governors to take a strong stand like Kilgore would have done. We need governors to use the national guard on their borders. Federal troops can't use law enforcement in the u.s so the governors are the ones that have the power to use the national guard on the border.

Bush has done everything he possibly could on the borders. People that blame Bush deserve what Bill Clitnon was doing.

Phyllis Schlafly column from Jan. 15, 2003.

U.S. Social Security For Mexicans?

Social Security, the so-called "third rail" of American politics, has just become more incendiary. The Bush Administration is proposing a change that is even more controversial than offering younger workers the opportunity to invest a small percentage of their Social Security taxes.

Everybody knows that Social Security is facing a massive shortfall in a few years when the baby-boom generation starts to retire. Higher taxes, reduced benefits, or allowing some measure of privatization are the alternatives that need to be worked out by bipartisan consensus.

The Bush Administration has just thrown a monkey wrench into a harmonious solution. A deal is in the works to add to the bulging Social Security rolls many thousands of Mexicans who are working in the United States, both legally and illegally.

This idea would be very costly to U.S. taxpayers. It's bad politics, it undermines the rule of law, and it invites a new wave of illegals to come across our border in search of taxpayer benefits.

Vicente Fox's success as Mexico's President is threatened by his country's terrible poverty. So he has a very ambitious plan to deal with it: export his poverty to the United States.

Fox encourages poor and desperate Mexicans to risk all kinds of hardships to cross the U.S. border illegally, often paying their life savings to a criminal "coyote," making a deal to transport illegal drugs, or enduring life-threatening thirst in the Arizona desert. Fox even toyed with a plan to give them Survival Kits to ease their pain.

If the illegal aliens manage to elude U.S. border guards and escape death on the highway in crowded vans or trucks driven by inexperienced drivers, many manage to land in various locations far away from Mexico, such as Colorado, Iowa or Georgia. They can then hope to get hired by a U.S. employer willing to close his eyes to how they got so far away from home.

Nevertheless, the illegals are told by Fox and other Mexican officials to "think Mexican" first and send as much as they can scrape out of their pitiful paychecks back to relatives in Mexico. According to a Pew Hispanic Center and Inter-American Development Bank report, Mexicans in the United States will send $13 billion this year to relatives in Mexico.

As soon as George W. Bush was elected president, Vicente Fox started pressuring him to legitimize the status of the some ten million illegal aliens who are in the United States, plus give amnesty to many illegals by reviving a loophole in immigration law called 245(i). Those plans were sailing briskly until 9/11, the day that the American people woke up to the dangers of open borders, and Fox was forced to move to an incrementalist strategy.

Mexican consulates in the United States started issuing an identification card, called matricula consular, to Mexicans illegally living in our country. By definition, this card should prove that the holder is in the United States illegally, but it began to be accepted by police, banks and even driver's license offices in some states as though it were a valid I.D.

New York State and New York City, however, citing security reasons, just announced that they will not recognize the matricula consular as a valid identity card.

The deputy White House press secretary has just confirmed that the Social Security Administration has begun discussions with Mexico about an agreement to allow Mexicans to receive U.S. Social Security benefits. One plan is to allow Mexicans, who were not employed in the U.S. long enough to collect U.S. Social Security benefits, to count the time they worked in Mexico as part of the mandatory 10 years or 40 quarters.

The most expensive plan is to provide benefits to the estimated 5 million Mexicans who are working illegally in the United States after having supplied fake Social Security numbers to their employers. "Our actuaries are working on the numbers," said Social Security spokesman Jim Courtney.

Acquiescing in Vicente Fox's demands would put hundreds of thousands of Mexicans onto the rolls of the U.S. Social Security system just as the first wave of baby boomers starts getting retirement checks. Already there is talk of an addition to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City to handle 37,000 claims anticipated in the first year.

The Bush Administration claims that these plans would promote "totalization" of U.S. and Mexican retirement systems and develop a positive relationship between the two countries. But offering Social Security benefits to people who knowingly violate U.S. immigration laws would create a powerful new incentive for more illegals to enter the United States.

If foreigners work legally in the United States and pay Social Security taxes, they are entitled to receive the benefits they earned. But U.S. taxpayers should say "no" to Mexico's attempt to shift its social welfare burdens onto the U.S. taxpayers.

Phyllis Schlafly column 1-15-03

Resources:

U.S. Social Security May Reach To Mexico — Washington Post, 12-19-02

Social Security Plan Would Aid Mexicans — Los Angeles Times, 12-20-02

AP Stories:
U.S. Considers Social Security Agreement — Associated Press, 12-19-02
Bush Administration Considers Adding Legal Workers From Mexico to Social Security System — Associated Press, 12-19-02

Other articles on this issue:
Social Security Heading South of the Border — by Joel Mowbray, 1-11-03
"Traitor": Consular chief Harty is furious. — by Joel Mowbray, 1-30-03
Social Security Crisis Will Worsen if Mexicans Cash In — by James R. Edwards Jr., 3-10-03

What can you do?
Call the President: 202-456-1111, 202-456-1414, Contacting the White House
Call your two Senators: 202-224-3121 - Capitol Switchboard, Call your Senators
Call your Representative: 202-224-3121 - Capitol Switchboard, Call your Representative

Bush just ended the catch and release policy of non mexicans that are caught. This is major news. Clinton never did this.

The real id act will help.

Sending the illegals back inland will help.

The predator drones will help.

The 3,000 extra border patrol will help.

The extra detainee beds will help.

Completing the fence south of san diego will help.

Speeding up extradition will help.

Bush appointing conservative judges will help in the long run.

You had none of these changes under Bill Clinton. He did absolutely nothing. Our apprehsion rate of catching illegals is way up thanks to Bush's policies.

Congress will also pass laws for changes on the anchor baby law which bush would sign into law. Bush would sign into law anything the house wanted. He won't veto it.

His guest worker program is good because it takes the illegals out of the shadows so they can be deported. The guest worker program is for the illegals already here. The only way you can deport them is to get them out of the shadows.

People that are against the guest worker program have nothing to worry about because it is going nowhere.

What brings illegals here are our long standing federal laws and our constitution which bars active troops from having law enforcement power in the u.s

What brings illegals here are the anchor baby laws which allow the kids born here to become citizens and then when they are 18 their parents can become citizens.

What brings illegals here are our federal laws which slows down hearings if you are an illegal here for more than 14 days or over 100 miles from the border.

Colleges giving illegals in state tuition and affirmative action brings illegals here.

The census also needs to be changed to not count illegals to lessen the political clout that they have.

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