Failure to Enforce Immigration Laws Affects Your Benefits

Special Report From Mary Johnson

Protests and pressure from TSCL members and supporters are playing a vitally important role in protecting our Social Security and Medicare benefits.  Congress, wary of angering voters during an election year, recently slowed action on “guest worker” immigration amnesty legislation — and not a moment too soon.

Recently, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a revised cost estimate of the Senate’s “guest worker” legislation.  The new estimate is significantly higher than earlier ones.  Unbelievable as it may seem, the CBO says the difference is primarily due to a tax break for employers of illegal immigrants.  As the legislation is written, employers would not have to pay income or payroll taxes for illegal workers who applied for legal status. 

That tax break would cost the federal government more than $80 billion in the first ten years.  About $50 billion of that would be in lower Social Security taxes, taxes used to cover benefits for current retirees.  In addition, as written, the Senate immigration legislation does not have a date ending the payroll tax exemption.

Sign our petition against Amnesty and Totalization now!

Even if the move to legalize millions of illegal immigrants stalls for now, however, the threat to the benefits of all of us who worked and paid into the system legally will continue.  Here’s why:

• The federal government currently places a low priority on enforcement of existing workplace immigration laws. — Despite a 1986 immigration law that makes it illegal for employers to knowingly hire immigrant workers without valid work-authorized Social Security numbers, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the federal government has placed a low priority on enforcement.  Employers are not required to verify that Social Security numbers are valid.  In fact, one GAO audit of Social Security records found that 9 million earnings records sent in by employers from 1985-2000 had all zeros (e.g., 000-00-000) as the Social Security number.
• The federal government may be one of the biggest employers of illegal workers. — An audit by Social Security’s Inspector General of employers having the most wage reports for immigrants with “non-work” authorized numbers revealed that federal and state agencies were among the top employers of illegals, reporting wages averaging $30,625 annually.
• Older illegal immigrants can and do draw Social Security right now.  Until recently, the federal government allowed immigrants to collect Social Security benefits regardless of whether they worked here legally or not.  To prevent payment of Social Security benefits to illegals in the future, Congress passed legislation in 2004 requiring that immigrants have a work-authorized Social Security number before they can claim benefits.  According to the GAO, however, “few have been denied benefits thus far,” because the Social Security Administration has improperly approved ineligible claims for benefits.
• Social Security law allows credit for illegal work.  Once illegal immigrants receive a work-authorized Social Security number as they would under “guest worker” immigration legislation or the related Social Security Totalization Agreement with Mexico, they can claim Social Security benefits.  In addition, newly-legalized workers can have former earnings, received while they were illegal, credited to their Social Security accounts (if their employer reported them), thus receiving benefits for work while illegal.

If Congress adds millions of formerly illegal workers to Social Security, and gives payroll tax amnesty to employers of illegals, Social Security will sink even more quickly than already predicted, and could trigger cuts for retirees who paid into the system legally.  In addition to non-stop meetings with Members of Congress, TSCL has mounted a protest petition ad campaign to Stop Immigration Amnesty and Totalization With Mexico.  The ads were signed and paid for by the contributions of tens of thousands of you.  TSCL thanks all of you for your support in fighting this threat and will continue to defend your earned benefits in 2007.