This guy is doing what you're doing.
Look at his headline:
Ask The Advisor: No Benefits Should Go To Illegal Aliens!
Ask The Advisor: No Benefits Should Go To Illegal Aliens!
It is unconscionable to consider funding illegal, law-breaking aliens while our states and local governments are in debt, created in part by Federal legislation that was passed, but not funded. The cause of the sacrifices we face in the months and years ahead, in higher state and local taxes, and reduced or eliminated services, is clear—the result of irresponsible budgeting by the federal government.
It is unconscionable to consider funding law-breaking aliens while Medicare, Veterans Administration, and other budget items are being cut. These cuts are like broken promises to the voters. It’s time for our nation to learn the best use for tax funds and get its priorities straight. — N.P.
From the editor, Mary Johnson:
Not only are aliens able to receive Social Security benefits based on illegal work in the United States, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO), but also significant numbers of them may be receiving improper Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits outside the United States.
SSI is intended to provide monthly benefits for low-income seniors, the blind, and disabled who have not worked long enough to be eligible for Social Security. Although administered by Social Security, it is funded from general federal revenues and not from Social Security payroll taxes. Certain categories of aliens may be eligible for SSI benefits if they meet eligibility criteria. SSI recipients are NOT eligible for benefits, however, if they are outside of the United States for 30 consecutive days or more.
Because many states supplement federal SSI benefits, improper federal payments to ineligible individuals also cause higher state and local taxes for law-abiding citizens. As you have pointed out, this puts legitimately eligible needy seniors and the disabled at risk for losing services if state budgets must be cut.
According to the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) data, less than 1% of all SSI recipients violate residency requirements annually. But the GAO reported that, in fact, no data exists to determine the true level of “residency violations.†Based on earlier studies, those violations could represent as much as 26% of SSI cases in certain areas of the country. The GAO noted that staff and managers in several regions estimated that anywhere from 40% to as many as 90% of recipients in some areas close to the southern border of the United States, improperly receive benefits outside the country.
One of GAO’s recommendations is for SSA to expand unannounced home visits as a way of verifying the residency. The agency’s response to this recommendation, however, raises even more questions. SSA wrote:
“Unannounced home visits could assist SSA in detecting SSI residency violators. However, SSA employees were not sent on unannounced visits because of the expectation of potentially dangerous situations. Any thoughts of using SSA employees to conduct future unannounced visits must include strong considerations of employee safety.â€
The GAO noted that private investigators in Texas had an 8 to 1 benefit to cost ratio.
Source: Supplemental Security Income: SSA Could Enhance Its Ability to Detect Residency Violations, The General Accounting Office, July 2003, GAO-03-724.
, Art
