Most of the immigrants who came to America prior to 1820 came for freedom, knowing they would have a harder life than they left in the Old World. Most of those who came from 1820 to 1970 came eager to work and build a better economic life than they left behind. Unfortunately, many of those who arrived in recent years have come to enjoy the benefits of the welfare state financed by the American taxpayers.
Since documentation fraud is big business, nobody knows how many illegal immigrants get a Social Security card. Alien visitors can legally get a card for its non-Social Security purposes such as identification for schools, banks, and drivers’ licenses; but the card is then stamped with the words “Not Valid For Employment.”
However, how many employers ever asked you to show your Social Security card when you applied for a job? Most employers merely ask for the number; so immigrants can work for months or years before anyone discovers that they are illegally employed.
Rep. Fortney Stark (D-CA) reported that, over the last decade, the Social Security Administration issued “non-work” Social Security cards to some 1.2 million alien visitors. Wages for work have been reported on nearly half of these cards, which means that 545,000 aliens have illegally taken American jobs.
Not only does the Social Security Administration often pay benefits to illegally employed aliens, despite the fact that such aliens are violating the law in the first place, but it pays higher average benefits to legal aliens than to Americans. Americans work an average of 20.5 years before drawing Social Security; aliens work only about 10.5 years and receive about $23.10 for every dollar they paid into the system.
Senator Don Nickles (R-OK) described one case of a legal alien who worked in the United States for several years, retired at age 62, and moved back to his native country where his Social Security checks were mailed to him. There he fathered two children by his own 15-year-old granddaughter and this “family” received $12,896 in Social Security payments over a six-year period; and benefits will continue for the children until they are age 18. Social Security numbers, no matter how obtained, are also often used by state and local agencies as identifiers for food stamps and other welfare benefits. Abuses like this are compounded by the lack of communication between various government agencies.
One solution to this problem is to have new tamper-resistant Social Security cards whose number the employer could verify by calling a toll-free phone number. This is the efficient and satisfactory process that merchants use every day in verifying credit cards.
Professor Donald Huddle has been studying illegal aliens in the U.S. economy for years. His research indicates that 100 working illegal aliens will displace 65 American citizens in the workforce. This is particularly hurtful to unskilled low-income workers. In a world of increasing automation and technology combined with our own high illiteracy rate, the last thing we need is a flood of unskilled labor.
Each unemployed American receives an average of $7,000 per year in unemployment and welfare benefits. These benefits to displaced American workers are costing the taxpayers at least $25 billion annually.
Even though it is against the law, aliens do receive unemployment benefits and welfare. Improvident judges (who don’t have to levy the taxes) have ordered the payments to aliens.
Illegal aliens are cashing in on tax-supported medical services. In 1983, illegal aliens represented 22.9% of the total patients and accounted for 64% of the births at six public hospitals in Los Angeles County. Nearly 80% of the babies born in one major Los Angeles County hospital are born to illegal alien mothers.
A large part of the problem is due to liberal judges who have ruled that aliens can go on welfare as soon as they arrive (despite the federal law which requires the deportation of any aliens who “within five years after entry become a public charge”). The Arizona State Supreme Court ruled that taxpayers must pay hospitals for treating illegal aliens, and this is costing Arizona $4.4 million annually.
These are only a few of the facts collected in a new book called “The Immigration Time Bomb” by Palmer Stacy and Wayne Lutton. It’s no wonder that former Attorney General William French Smith warned in 1981 that the United States has “lost control of its borders.” President Reagan reiterated this concern in 1983 when he said, “This country has lost control of its own borders, and no country can sustain that kind of position.”
