DEAR EDITOR:
I read Laurie Weber’s June 4 letter to the editor and realized
that she doesn’t know that reunited also means bringing your
parents and grandparents into the United States to live with
you.
DEAR EDITOR:
I read Laurie Weber’s June 4 letter to the editor and realized that she doesn’t know that reunited also means bringing your parents and grandparents into the United States to live with you.
Another fact that she does not address is that if you work at any job – even minimum wage jobs – that cause you to pay Social Security taxes then anyone that you claim as a dependent can collect Social Security benefits. And they may collect a pension even though they never paid into the system.
I became aware of this when I worked for San Jose Fire Department and had to check the paperwork of the non-English speaking patients on medical calls. In my response area, the alien population was mostly Vietnamese but when I looked into this further I found that the biggest dollar amount going out in these types of Social Security payments was actually to Mexican reunited family members.
Questions about the amount paid out was answered in typical government fashion, “It is only a small percent of the total dollars” but with the size of the program it amounted to tens of millions of dollars for that group alone. Not a one time payment, but annually, and getting bigger every year. That figure does not count Medical and the other programs involved.
Anyone wanting to support a bill like Sam Farr’s had better look at all the costs. Any plan that jumps past illegal as though the word is invisible and then sets up a government program for that group makes a joke of the security promised by our representatives.
These are the same representatives that are telling us that Social Security is in dire financial straits.
Lee Petersen, Gilroy
Submitted Wednesday, June 9 to [email protected]
