Social Security for Mexicans closer to reality
U.S. discussing plan to allow millions of immigrants to collect benefits
Posted: December 11, 2003
12:40 p.m. Eastern
2003 WorldNetDaily.com
The prospect of millions of Mexicans receiving United States Social Security
checks is moving closer to reality.
The Gannett News Service reports U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing a
"totalization" agreement that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in
payments south of the border. The plan would allow documented and undocumented
immigrants to return home but still collect U.S. benefits.
WorldNetDaily reported the idea to merge both countries' Social Security
systems was pushed late last year by Mexican President Vincente Fox as payback
from President George W. Bush for failing to secure major new immigration
reforms beneficial to Mexico City.
"When the legalization talks began going nowhere, the Mexicans began focusing
on this," Maria Blanco, national senior counsel for the Mexican American Legal
Defense and Educational Fund, told the Washington Post.
Excerpts from a U.S. Social Security Administration memo dated December 2002
said the agreement "is expected to move forward at an accelerated pace."
The pact is the latest and largest attempt by Washington and Mexico City to
ensure that people from one country working in another aren't taxed twice for
Social Security benefits. In the first year alone, the agreement is expected to
trigger 37,000 claims from Mexicans working in the U.S. legally who paid Social
Security taxes but haven't been able to claim their checks, said the memo,
prepared by Ted Girdner, the Social Security Administration's assistant
associate commissioner for international operations.
Supporters say the proposal would improve the daily lives of Mexican citizens,
many of whom are still trapped in poverty a decade after the North American
Free Trade Agreement promised prosperity to the nation's 103.4 million people.
"Let's be honest, there are millions of Mexican immigrants contributing to the
Social Security system and the U.S. economy," Katherine Culliton, an attorney
with the Washington, D.C., office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and
Education Fund, told Gannett. "It's only fair they get back a benefit they
deserve that will keep them from dying in poverty."
Critics, as well as some on the Bush administration economic team, worry that
adding more beneficiaries would burden an already ailing system, just as
American baby boomers begin to retire.
Currently, around 94,000 beneficiaries living abroad have been brought into the
U.S. system under the auspices of about 20 international treaties designed to
help Americans sent abroad by their employers signed since 1977. The accords
are mostly with European countries, but also include Canada and South Korea.
Of the $408 billion distributed in Social Security benefits in 2001, according
to Gannett, the federal government paid $173 million to about 89,000 foreigners
living abroad.
Opponents contend the number of Mexican beneficiaries added to the fold would
dwarf the total numbers from the 20 other countries. One estimate puts the
number of Mexicans coming into the system at around 164,000 in the first five
years.
Social Security Administration officials estimate about 50,000 Mexicans would
collect $78 million in the first year of a U.S.-Mexican agreement. By 2050, the
number is predicted to swell to 300,000 Mexicans collecting $650 million in
benefits a year.
But that number doesn't include the potentially eligible, undocumented Mexican
immigrants – numbering about 5 million, according to federal estimates – a
recent General Accounting Office report pointed out.
Accounting for illegals, the agreement could cost U.S. taxpayers $750 million
within five years of implementation.
Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies,
says if Mexicans receive the $8,100 in benefits that Mexican-born retirees in
the U.S. currently get, the total expenditure for the program will easily
surpass $1 billion annually.
Beyond the cost, Republican lawmakers worry the proposal will fuel further
illegal immigration.
"Talk about an incentive for illegal immigration," Gannett quotes Rep. Ron
Paul, R-Texas, as saying. "How many more would break the law to come to this
country if promised U.S. government paychecks for life?"
Any "totalization" agreement ultimately reached must be approved by Congress.
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| User: "Woodswun" |
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| Title: Re: The beginning of the end for America |
12 Dec 2003 03:13:11 PM |
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In article <20031212055648.13822.00000659@mb-m10.aol.com>, (TonyZ2001) wrote:
Social Security for Mexicans closer to reality
U.S. discussing plan to allow millions of immigrants to collect benefits
Posted: December 11, 2003
12:40 p.m. Eastern
2003 WorldNetDaily.com
The prospect of millions of Mexicans receiving United States Social Security
checks is moving closer to reality.
The Gannett News Service reports U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing a
"totalization" agreement that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in
payments south of the border. The plan would allow documented and undocumented
immigrants to return home but still collect U.S. benefits.
WorldNetDaily reported the idea to merge both countries' Social Security
systems was pushed late last year by Mexican President Vincente Fox as payback
from President George W. Bush for failing to secure major new immigration
reforms beneficial to Mexico City.
I'm pretty sure that Bush doesn't realize that Mexico is a separate country.
Woods
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| User: "Mark Tyme" |
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| Title: Re: The beginning of the end for America |
13 Dec 2003 12:24:30 AM |
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On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 21:13:11 GMT, (Woodswun)
wrote:
In article <20031212055648.13822.00000659@mb-m10.aol.com>, (TonyZ2001) wrote:
Social Security for Mexicans closer to reality
U.S. discussing plan to allow millions of immigrants to collect benefits
Posted: December 11, 2003
12:40 p.m. Eastern
2003 WorldNetDaily.com
The prospect of millions of Mexicans receiving United States Social Security
checks is moving closer to reality.
The Gannett News Service reports U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing a
"totalization" agreement that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in
payments south of the border. The plan would allow documented and undocumented
immigrants to return home but still collect U.S. benefits.
WorldNetDaily reported the idea to merge both countries' Social Security
systems was pushed late last year by Mexican President Vincente Fox as payback
from President George W. Bush for failing to secure major new immigration
reforms beneficial to Mexico City.
I'm pretty sure that Bush doesn't realize that Mexico is a separate country.
Woods
I'm pretty sure that Bush didn't even know where Afghanistan was,
before the Taliban showed up at his ranch in 1996 to begin brokering
natural gas pipeline deals with Cheney's company Halliburton, along
with co-negotiators Condo Rice and Donald Rumsfeld.
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