Myths and Facts about the historic Passage of the Bill to end the Widow Penalty
For further information, please visit ssad.org.
MYTH: The Government gives Social Security benefits to “illegal” aliens who have never contributed to the SystemCite as “AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 09021163 (posted Feb. 11, 2009)”.
FACT: Contrary to what people think, undocumented workers are not (and have never been) eligible to claim social security benefits. Moreover, most undocumented workers will use a false social security number to prove work authorization, therefore paying money into a benefit system that they will never be eligible to use.
FACT: According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), undocumented immigrants “account for a major portion” of the billions of dollars paid into the Social Security system under names or social security numbers that don’t match SSA records.
As of October 2005, the reported earnings on which these payments are based are tracked through the SSA’s Earnings Suspense File (ESF)-totaled $520 billion