Congress Restores SSI to Some "Not Qualified" Immigrants

IMMIGRANTS & PUBLIC BENEFITS

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Congress restores SSI to some "not qualified" immigrants
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 12, No. 7, October 26, 1998

Congress has voted to restore Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid eligibility to an estimated 12,000 elderly and disabled immigrants who were receiving SSI on Aug. 22, 1996, but whom the Social Security Administration (SSA) had coded as "not qualified" to continue receiving benefits after Sept. 30, 1998. The Clinton administration supports the restoration of the SSI benefits, and the president’s signature on the bill authorizing it is assured.

The day before the measure passed the Senate, Social Security Commissioner Kenneth Apfel wrote to every senator urging passage of the bill that "completes the 'grandfathering' of noncitizens which was begun in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act." Once signed by the president, the law will restore SSI eligibility to all immigrants who were receiving assistance when the welfare law was enacted on Aug. 22, 1996. As Apfel emphasized in his letter, the majority of the indigent immigrants are over 70 years of age and have lived in the U.S. for more than 25 years.

The U.S. House of Representatives had approved the SSI-restoration measure, H.R. 4558, on September 23, but the bipartisan bill stalled in the Senate due to a hold placed by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX). The hold was finally removed on October 8, freeing the bill for passage that same evening on a voice vote.

Over the past six months, advocates worked tirelessly to help immigrants update Social Security records, adjust their immigration status, and tell their tragic and compelling stories to members of Congress and the Clinton administration. Many SSI recipients facing the federal cutoff had serious physical infirmities, mental disabilities, limited English proficiency, and a desperate lack of resources, rendering them vulnerable to hunger, sickness, homelessness, and despair.