Stop Mexican Raid on Social Security

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In June, 2004, President Bush's Social Security Administration 'negotiated' a deal with Mexico named "Totalization", to allow Mexicans who work for a period of time (legally or illegally) in the United States to collect money from the U.S. Social Security system when they retire in Mexico.

Thanks to the efforts of members of The Conservative Caucus, this deal has not gone into effect yet. The President must send it to Congress, which has 60 legislative days for either house to reject it by majority vote to kill it. If Congress does nothing for those 60 days, it will automatically go into effect. Because the Mexican raid deal is not a treaty, the Senate does not have to ratify it by a 2/3 majority. It was negotiated by authority of a law passed by Congress in 1977 giving the government the ability to negotiate such agreements, subject to Congressional review.

The Conservative Caucus has led the fight to block this irresponsible deal which would drain our Social Security budget. Due to our efforts, President Bush has not sent the agreement to Congress for fear it would be rejected. We have alerted by special mailings over a half million Americans, made tens of thousands of legislative alert phone calls, and delivered to date more than 136,000 signed petitions to Congress and the President opposing the deal with Mexico. With your help, we can keep President from ever sending the deal to Congress, we can get Congress to pass H.R. 190 to permanently ban it, and then our Social Security system will be forever safe from being raided by Mexicans. See photos and text of some of the petitions we have delivered

Please join our members in blocking this outrageous deal. Here's how:

Call, Write, and Email your Representatives and Talk Shows in opposition to the Mexican Social Security Raid and the use of Mexican "ID" Cards.
Rep. Ron Paul has introduced H.R. 190, the "Social Security for Americans Only Act", which will block the Mexican raid on Social Security.
Please ask your Congressman and Senators to join as a "co-sponsor" of the bill and to vote for H.R. 190 to permanently ban this or similar deals with Mexico and other countries.
Please call (202-456-1111) or email the White House and ask that the President never send the agreement to Congress, and to formally cancel it.
Call talk shows and write a letter to the editor supporting this bill.
Donate Now to help us permanently block this raid on our Social Security system.

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of June 30, 2005

MEXICANS PROFIT FROM RENTING OUT THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER TO ILLEGALS

“Gerardo Luviano is looking for somebody to rent his Social Security number. Mr. Luviano, 39, obtained legal residence in the United States almost 20 years ago. But these days, back in Mexico, teaching beekeeping at the local high school in this hot, dusty town in the southwestern part of the country, Mr. Luviano is not using his Social Security number. So he is looking for an illegal immigrant in the United States to use it for him - providing a little cash along the way. …

“ ‘It is seen as a normal thing to do,’ said Luis Magaña, an immigrant-rights activist assisting farm workers in the agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley of California.

“The number of people participating in the illegal deals is impossible to determine accurately. But it is clearly significant, flourishing despite efforts to combat identity fraud.”

ILLEGALS USE IDENTITY FRAUD TO SECURE EMPLOYMENT IN U.S.

“Hundreds of thousands of immigrants who cross the border from Mexico illegally each year need to procure a legal identity that will allow them to work in the United States. Many legal immigrants, whether living in the United States or back in Mexico, are happy to provide them: as they pad their earnings by letting illegal immigrants work under their name and number, they also enhance their own unemployment and pension benefits. And sometimes they charge for the favor.

“Martin Mora, a former migrant to the United States who these days is a prominent local politician preparing to run for a seat in the state legislature in next October’s elections, said that in just one town in the Tlalchapa municipality, ‘of about 1,000 that fixed their papers in the United States there might be 50 that are here and lending their number.’ …”

FALSE CREDENTIALS FOR SALE CHEAP

“These days, most immigrants working unlawfully buy a document combo for $100 to $200 that includes a fake green card and fake Social Security card with a nine-digit number plucked out of thin air. ‘They’ll make it for you right there at the flea market,’ said David Blanco, an illegal immigrant from Costa Rica who works as an auto mechanic in Stockton, Calif.

“This process has one big drawback, however. Each year, Social Security receives millions of W-2 earning statements with names or numbers that do not match its records. Nine million poured in for 2002, many of them just simple mistakes. In response the agency sends hundreds of thousands of letters asking employers to correct the information. …

“Working with a name linked to a number recognized by Social Security - even if it is just borrowed or leased - avoids these pitfalls. ‘It’s the safest way,’ said Mario Avalos, a Stockton accountant who every year does tax returns for dozens of illegal immigrants. ‘If you are going to work in a company with strict requirements, you know they won’t let you in without good papers.’ …”

THOSE WHO RENT OUT THEIR NUMBERS GET TO KEEP THEIR GREEN CARDS

“Since legal American residents can lose their green cards if they stay outside the country too long, for those who have returned to Mexico it is useful to have somebody working under their identity north of the border. ‘There are people who live in Mexico who take $4,000 or $5,000 in unemployment in the off season,’ said Jorge Eguiluz, a labor contractor working in the fields around Stockton, Calif. ‘They just lend the number during the season.’ ”

FRAUD BY LOW-INCOME ILLEGALS ALSO GAINS THEM U.S. TAX “REFUNDS”

“The deals also generate cash in other ways. Most identity lending happens within an extended family, or among immigrants from the same hometown. But it is still a hard-nosed transaction. Illegal immigrant workers usually earn so little they are owed an income tax refund at the end of the year. The illegal immigrant ‘working the number’ will usually pay the real owner by sharing the tax refund. …

“Done skillfully, the underground transactions are virtually undetectable. They do not ring any bells at the Social Security Administration. Nor do they set off alarms at the Internal Revenue Service as long as the person who lends the number keeps track of the W-2’s and files the proper income tax returns.”

SOCIAL SECURITY BUREAUCRATS ARE CLUELESS

“In a written response to questions, the audit office of Social Security’s inspector general acknowledged that ‘as long as the name and S.S.N. on an incoming wage item (i.e., W-2) matches S.S.A.’s record’ the agency will not detect any irregularity. The response noted that the agency had no statistics on the use of Social Security numbers by illegal immigrants. It does not even know how many of the incorrect earnings reports it receives every year come from immigrants working unlawfully, though immigration experts estimate that most do.”

ENFORCEMENT DOWN FROM 14,000 TO 450 IN 5 YEARS

“Meanwhile, with the Homeland Security Department focused on terrorism threats, it has virtually stopped policing the workplace for run-of-the-mill work violations. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested only 450 illegal immigrants in the workplace in 2003, down from 14,000 in 1998. …

“A 37-year-old forewoman who manages crews in the canneries and packing plants of the San Joaquin Valley also agreed to share her testimony only under the condition that her name not be used. She said that she functioned as a sort of identity clearing house, collecting Social Security numbers of acquaintances who want their identities ‘worked’ and assigning them to illegal workers in the canneries. …”

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS ARE YET ANOTHER CORRUPT BONUS

“Moreover, even though the forewoman immigrated as a child and is now an American citizen, she occasionally uses somebody else’s identity to work. When the crop is poor and work is scarce, she prefers to toil under somebody else’s Social Security number, so she can supplement her wages with unemployment benefits that she claims under her own name and number.

“ ‘Some people work their own number in the cannery and at the same time lend it for somebody to work it in the packing plant,’ to pad their earnings, she said.” Source: From Tlalchapa, Mexico, Eduardo Porter, The New York Times, 6/7/05, pp. 1, C3

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of July 31, 2004

BUSH SURRENDERS U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY TO MEXICO’S VICENTE FOX

“An agreement signed on June 29 between the United States and Mexico that will allow retirees in Mexico to collect U.S. Social Security benefits could further imperil America’s already fiscally unsound retirement system. The pact signed between the U.S. and Mexico would allow a limited number of Mexicans who have worked in the U.S. to collect benefits from the Social Security system, but given the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) poor record-keeping and the potential for a massive illegal alien amnesty, the number of Mexicans collecting benefits could increase dramatically.”

MILLIONS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS WILL COLLECT SOCIAL SECURITY

“By the SSA’s own admission, they do not know how many Social Security numbers are currently being used fraudulently. Moreover, under an amnesty/guest worker program proposed by President Bush, potentially millions more workers from Mexico and other countries would also qualify for Social Security benefits.”

WILL CONGRESS ACT BEFORE END OF AUGUST?

“Congress still has a 60-day period during which it may call for a vote and reject this agreement with Mexico. … If Congress does not reject the agreement outright, passage of H.R. 1631, an amendment to the Social Security Act introduced by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), must become a top legislative priority. Under H.R. 1631 any quarters worked in the U.S. illegally would not count toward eligibility for Social Security benefits. …

“Barring quarters worked illegally will also preclude a bureaucratic nightmare or trying to sort out millions of potential claims by people using an assortment of valid and fraudulent Social Security numbers and aliases. ‘Our Social Security system is probably not going to be able to deliver on the promises it has made to current and future retirees. Even if [it] was possible to sort out potential claims filed by millions of illegal aliens, the benefits paid to them would come directly out of the pockets of America’s own elderly,’ warned [Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) executive director Dan] Stein. ‘That is not only fiscally irresponsible, but politically volatile.’ ” Source: FAIR news release, 7/1/04

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of December 31, 2003

MEXICAN IDs ARE TICKETS OF ADMISSION TO THE U.S. WELFARE STATE

"The Treasury Department said yesterday that it will leave in place rules that allow financial institutions to accept Mexican identification cards, called Matricula Consular, which often are used by undocumented immigrants to open bank accounts.

"The decision, which extends to all foreign-issued identification, is considered a victory for immigration and Hispanic groups that have protested efforts to prohibit use of the identification cards. Financial institutions, too, had opposed any change in the rule.

"The federal government and other critics say the cards could be interpreted as de facto amnesty for illegal aliens.

"The cards, moreover, can be counterfeited easily and pose a risk to homeland security, opponents note. …

"The cards are issued by Mexico’s consulates to its citizens living abroad and show the date of birth, a current photograph and the address of the card holder. Many of the cards have been issued to Mexicans in the United States, including those here illegally.

"Card holders have used them to open bank accounts, turn on utilities, check out library books, get driver’s licenses or other basic services in some communities and states." Source: Associated Press, The Washington Times, 9/19/03, p. A3

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of July 15, 2003

BUSH MAY SPEND U.S. TAX DOLLARS TO PROVIDE SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENTS TO MEXICANS LIVING IN MEXICO

"With Social Security facing projections of insolvency, an Administration plan would hasten that crisis by sending hundreds of millions of dollars in Social Security payments to Mexican citizens living in Mexico - including those who have worked illegally in the United States."

ILLEGAL ALIENS WOULD BENEFIT

"Under current law, people who worked illegally in the U.S. can only become eligible for Social Security benefits by becoming citizens or legal permanent residents. But officials at the State Department and Social Security Administration (SSA) are preparing a scheme that would pay benefits to illegal aliens who have returned to Mexico."

DIFFERENT THAN 20 OTHER BILATERAL DEALS

"The agreement would be part of a series of executive agreements designed to ensure that people from one country working in another have their Social Security taxes paid into the home country’s social security systems. The U.S. has 20 such treaties with other [countries], but this one would be dramatically different - not only in sheer numbers of people affected, but also because it would be the first to make illegal aliens eligible for Social Security benefits for their illegal employment."

$ BILLION PER YEAR PRICETAG IS A COSTLY WAY TO BUY VOTES

"The annual cost to the U.S. of the 20 existing accords is about $183 million; the agreement with Mexico is expected to cost Social Security between $720 million and $1 billion each year, and possibly much more."

WORK IN MEXICO COUNTS TOWARD ELIGIBILITY TO TAP U.S. "SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND" - FRAUD IS NOT A DISQUALIFICATION

"Mexican citizens who did not work in the U.S. long enough to qualify for benefits also would be able to receive a monthly check from the U.S. government, because the plan would allow applicants to add in the number of years worked in Mexico. Mexican officials also are reportedly pushing to make U.S. Social Security benefits available to Mexicans who used false Social Security numbers while working in the U.S. …

"An internal SSA memo says that the agreement could be in effect as early as October of this year. …"

TCC URGES YOU TO TAKE ACTION

"Contact your congressional representatives [call 202-224-3121] and demand that action be taken to stop this agreement. Urge them to actively support the No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act (H.R. 1631), introduced by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), which would bar illegal aliens from being eligible for Social Security benefits." Source: FAIR Immigration Report, May 2003, pp. 1, 2 (See Action items at top of page for current bill: H.R. 858.)

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of January 31, 2003

MEXICO’S COUNTERFEIT ID CARDS THWART U.S. COUNTER-TERRORIST MEASURES

"The Mexican government, despite concerns by U.S. law-enforcement authorities and immigration officials, is handing out thousands of identity cards to Mexican nationals in this country, including those here illegally.

"The ‘matricular consular cards’ cost about $25, are good for five years and can be obtained from a Mexican consular office with a birth certificate and a photo identification issued in either Mexico or the United States."

EACH IDENTITY CARD IS A "LICENSE TO STEAL" FROM U.S. TAXPAYERS

"The cards have been used by Mexican nationals to obtain social services, establish bank accounts, open utility accounts and obtain building permits. They also have been used as legal identification for those who have been detained by state, local and federal law-enforcement authorities."

MEXICAN ID’s ARE VIRTUAL PROOF OF ILLEGAL ENTRY

" ‘The most important thing to understand about these Mexican matriculas is that they are almost absolute proof that the bearer is an illegal alien,’ said Dan Stein, executive director of the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform."

LEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND TOURISTS DON’T NEED PHONY PASS FROM VICENTE FOX

" ‘Legal immigrants can get valid U.S. documents, like state-issued driver’s licenses, while visitors can prove their identity with a passport and a valid visa. The only people who would need these consular-issued IDs are illegal aliens,’ Mr. Stein said."

BUSH ADMINISTRATION COLLABORATES BY ACCEPTING PHONY ID’s AS VALID

"Aside from tacitly recognizing the presence of people who are violating the law, Mr. Stein said the U.S. government – in allowing the cards to be used as identification – has placed critical national security matters in the hands of the foreign governments that issue the cards."

POLITICAL PANDERING OVERRIDES NATIONAL SECURITY

" ‘We know that corruption is prevalent in the Mexican government, and yet we are relying on a chain of faceless Mexican bureaucrats to vouch for the identities of millions of people, about whom the only thing we know for certain is that they’ve broken our immigration laws,’ he said.

" ‘Clearly, our policy-makers are still more serious about maintaining a flow of cheap labor for a handful of business interests or currying favor with a few self-appointed ethnic spokespeople, than they are about controlling illegal immigration or addressing national security,’ he said." Source: Jerry Seper, The Washington Times, 1/21/03, pp. 1, A18

U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY FOR MEXICANS COULD COST $345 BILLION

" ‘U.S. Social Security May Reach to Mexico,’ blared a Washington Post headline last month: A U.S.-Mexico agreement would send hundreds of millions of dollars in Social Security benefits annually to roughly 37,000 Mexican workers. But this and other news reports actually dramatically underestimated the true scope of the accord. If top officials at the State Department and the Social Security Administration have their way, up to $345 billion could be siphoned from the Social Security ‘trust fund’ over the next two decades – mostly to people who worked in the U.S. illegally."

INCLUSION OF 7-11 MILLION ILLEGALS JEOPARDIZES SOCIAL SECURITY INCOME OF U.S. CITIZENS

"The media reports quoted a relatively low cost because the Mexico pact is supposedly modeled after deals the U.S. already has with 20 other countries…. But the Mexico accord is different in one key respect: It makes illegals from Mexico eligible for Social Security benefits, which will make the cost skyrocket.

"Today, people who worked in the U.S. illegally can receive Social Security benefits for that period only if they become citizens or permanent legal residents. The new agreement would lift this requirement for Mexican illegals. …

"There are between 7 and 11 million illegals in the U.S. – about half of whom are from Mexico. Allowing them to receive Social Security benefits would dramatically inflate the number of new beneficiaries, and cause the Social Security trust fund to hemorrhage hundreds of billions of dollars. …"

DISABILITY BENEFITS WILL ALSO COST BILLIONS

"One of the biggest areas of fraud is disability benefits. If someone works, on average, six months per year, he can – upon becoming disabled – qualify for benefits equal to up to two-thirds or more of his average salary. Law firms and others out to make a quick buck place ads, particularly in towns near the Mexican border, urging people to seek Social Security disability benefits. Along I-10 in El Paso, drivers can spot both English- and Spanish-language billboards promising to help the ‘disabled’; for people who heed the call of those billboards, the payout can be generous. …"

ONE ILLEGAL COULD COST U.S. TAXPAYERS ONE-HALF MILLION BUCKS

"If a 24-year-old Mexican national who has worked illegally in the U.S. for three years is able to present documents from a friendly doctor and either a W-2 or pay stubs that indicate $12,000 in annual earnings, he will be eligible for the following: nearly $8,000 per year in disability income (adjusted for inflation), until age 65, at which point he would receive the same amount as retirement pay. (If he manages to get an under-the-table job in the U.S. or Mexico, he will be able to double-dip for a second income stream.) If he is survived by his wife or dependents, his family would be able to receive up to almost $12,000 annually. If he dies at 60, and his widow lives to 85, U.S. taxpayers will be on the hook for nearly a half-million dollars. That’s for one worker brought into Social Security by the pact." Source: Joel Mowbray, National Review, 1/27/03, pp. 22, 24

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of December 31, 2002

WILL BUSH MAKE MEXICAN CITIZENS ELIGIBLE FOR U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY?

"Pushed by the Mexican government, the Bush administration is working on a Social Security accord that would put tens of thousands of Mexicans onto the Social Security roster and send hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits south of the border.

"White House and Mexican government officials say discussions on an agreement to align the Social Security systems of the two countries are informal and preliminary. But excerpts from an internal Social Security Administration memo obtained this month say the agreement ‘is expected to move forward at an accelerated pace,’ with the support of both governments, and could be in force by next October. …"

ANOTHER BILLION DOLLAR BOONDOGGLE TO PANDER FOR HISPANIC VOTES

"Extrapolating from U.S. and Mexican government statistics, the accord could cost $720 million a year within five years of implementation. One independent estimate put the total at $1 billion a year - a large sum, but a trifle compared with the $372 billion in Social Security benefits currently being paid to 46.4 million recipients.

"Mexican President Vicente Fox has been pushing President Bush to sign a Social Security agreement with Mexico as something of a consolation prize to make up for Bush’s failure to pursue promised immigration reforms, according to Latino lobbyists close to the Fox administration. Mexican officials began pressing the White House hard at meetings that preceded the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Los Cabos, Mexico, in October. …"

U.S. SOCIAL SECURITY WOULD BE WEAKENED

"Concern is rising on Capitol Hill - and even among some White House economic aides - that any agreement on Social Security could add a new burden to the benefits system, just as the baby-boom generation is preparing to retire. House Ways and Means Committee staff members are meeting today with Social Security officials to hash out projected costs for such an agreement."

162,000 MEXICAN BENEFICIARIES?

" ‘We are concerned about the sheer magnitude of the agreement,’ said a House Republican aide who is an expert on Social Security. About 94,000 beneficiaries living abroad have been brought into the system by the 20 existing international agreements. A Mexican agreement alone could bring in 162,000 in the first five years." Source: Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post, 12/19/02, p. A1

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of November 15, 2002

IRS AIDS ILLEGAL ALIENS

"While Americans anxiously avoid the attention of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), that agency is providing cover to 9 million illegal aliens in the United States. By providing illegal aliens with a government-issued identity number, used in lieu of a Social Security number, the IRS is subverting the immigration law, undermining national security, and thwarting efforts by other federal agencies to cooperate in homeland security efforts.

"These are among the conclusions of ‘Giving Cover to Illegal Aliens: IRS Tax ID Numbers Subvert Immigration Law,’ a new report by Ms. Marti Dinerstein, president of Immigration Matters, a public-policy analysis firm in New York, and a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies."

ACCESS TO DRIVERS LICENSES AND BANK ACCOUNTS

"Dinerstein found that the IRS decided in 1996 to treat illegal immigrants as ‘resident aliens’ based on their ‘substantial presence’ in the U.S., thus rendering them eligible for the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). The ITIN is intended as a substitute to the Social Security number for tax purposes only, but it has turned into an official identity number used by illegal aliens to open bank accounts and, in some instance, obtain drivers licenses."

TERRORISTS BENEFIT FROM AVAILABILITY OF ID’s

"The 9/11 hijackers benefitted from a flourishing market in fraudulent documents catering to America’s record-high illegal-alien population by easily acquiring real or fake driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers. Now an agency of the federal government is broadening access by illegal aliens to documents that aid in laundering their residency status. In 1999, the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration noted this contradiction, saying that the IRS policy of issuing ITINs to illegal aliens ‘seems counter-productive to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) mission to identify and prevent unlawful entry.’

"The IRS policy, Dinerstein contends, also runs counter to the Social Security Administration’s recent efforts to stem unlawful use of Social Security numbers (SSN). That agency has taken steps to limit the purposes for which an SSN can be issued and to better validate the underlying ‘breeder’ documents presented to obtain an SSN. This past summer the agency mailed out more than 750,000 letters to employers of approximately 7 million workers whose names did not match the SSN provided.

" ‘The IRS is giving cover to illegal aliens by pretending that the ITIN is solely for tax purposes, when in actuality it is commonly used to establish official identity,’ Dinerstein said. ‘This policy also violates the USA Patriot Act by withholding information from the INS and the Social Security Administration about the fraudulent activity of illegal aliens,’ she added." Source: The Center for Immigration Studies (www.cis.org/articles/2002back1202.html), 11/18/02

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