Viewers who watched President Obama’s November 20 speech outlining his plan to grant amnesty (though he denied it is amnesty) to illegal immigrants may have wondered if his plan would enable those immigrants to collect Social Security benefits. There is good reason to believe that these newly legalized illegals might very well be eligible for Social Security and other federal benefits such as Medicare.
In a report in the Washington Post for November 25, the paper’s national political correspondent, Karen Tumulty, first looked at the president’s words for a clue about what might lie ahead. Obama had stated:
We’re going to offer the following deal: If you’ve been in America more than five years, if you have children who are American citizens or illegal residents, if you register, pass a criminal background check and you’re willing to pay your fair share of taxes, you’ll be able to apply to stay in this country temporarily without fear of deportation. You can come out of the shadows and get right with the law.
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In a commentary on the president’s reference to the newly legalized recipients of his beneficence, Rachel Bade, a writer for Politico, provided her best interpretation of what the ramifications of Obama’s statement, “pay your fair share of taxes,” will be. She noted that a White House outline on the president’s program doesn’t provide much detail beyond that statement. She wrote:
Most experts, however, assume the 5 million will pay everything that a typical U.S. citizen would pay: payroll, income, sales and property taxes. But they’ll also likely get to claim the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit, although the Obama administration said they won’t get Obamacare tax credits or certain welfare benefits.
The Post’s Tumulty added:
Federal law says that people who pay the [payroll] taxes and are deemed “lawfully present in the United States” can collect benefits under those programs when they become eligible. They may also receive survivor and disability benefits.
“If they pay in, they can draw,” White House spokesman Shawn Turner said by e-mail.
Turner noted, however, that the estimated 5 million immigrants granted protection from deportation will not be eligible for other federal benefits such as student financial aid, food stamps or housing subsidies. Nor are they eligible to purchase health insurance through the federal health-care exchange under the Affordable Care Act.
This last point will create a very serious dilemma for American workers, however. As we noted in our earlier article “Under ObamaCare, Businesses Can Save $3,000 By Hiring Illegals,” “Since these illegal immigrants granted the right to remain in America under the Obama executive action are ineligible to buy insurance through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace, employers who hire them are exempted from paying the fines.”
The fines of $3,000 a year are imposed on larger employers who fail to provide “affordable, adequate” healthcare coverage for each full-time worker getting a premium tax credit. Since employers face paying fines for not covering eligible (legal) employees but will not be fined for failing to provide coverage for newly legalized aliens not eligible for ObamaCare coverage, this provides a $3,000 incentive for them to hire those who came here illegally.
ObamaCare and the presidential executive actions are combining to create an ever-worsening situation for American job hunters and those relying on a financially tenuous Social Security program. The Obama administration has just made it financially more advantageous for employers to hire illegal aliens who have been granted amnesty — and now will enable those same illegals to become eligible to collect Social Security and Medicare benefits.
One might argue that illegal immigrants, if they work and pay FICA taxes, should be eligible for the benefits just as an American citizen who pays into the system is eligible. While it is true that they will be “paying in,” the real problem with this scenario goes much deeper. This is one more step to offering illegal immigrants de facto citizenship. People who came into this country illegally will, by virtue of the fact that they have been here for a number of years and are working, be paying taxes and receiving benefits just as any American citizen. The logical next step would be to say, “why not just make them all citizens.”
This entire concept erodes the idea of borders, immigration laws, and national citizenship. It is one step closer to a North American Union achieved by stealth and inertia rather than by decree, as the distinction between nations becomes less and less obvious.
Related articles:
Immigration Speech: Does Obama See Himself as an Elected Dictator?
Obama and Republicans Spar Over Immigration Executive Action Plans
Obama Will Use Executive Action to “Spur” Congress on Immigration Reform
Obama Pursues Plan to Implement “Immigration Reform” Unilaterally
Civil-rights Commissioner Says Obama Immigration Plan Will Hurt Black Workers
Accused Cop-killer Was Twice-deported Illegal Immigrant
GOP Divided Over Immigration Reform
Civil Rights Commission to Probe Effect of State Illegal Immigration Laws
Obama Delays Immigration Action Until After Elections
Obama Executive Action Will Allow Illegal Immigrants in Military
More Illegal Alien Children Coming Soon, Predicts Think Tank Spokesman
Estimated Cost of Educating New Illegal Children at $760 Million
Illegal Immigrant Kids May Overwhelm U.S. Schools
Illegal Immigrant Children Fail to Show at Immigration Hearings
Relocation of Illegal Immigrant Minors Stirs Negative Reaction
Feds Sending Illegal Immigrant Minors to States Without Notice
Texas Sheriff: Groups of Armed Illegal Immigrants in His County
DHS: Flow of Illegal Immigrants Encouraged by U.S. Failure to Deport
