President's FY 2005 Budget Includes 1-Year SSI Eligibility Extension

IMMIGRANTS & PUBLIC BENEFITS

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

President's FY 2005 budget includes 1-year SSI eligibility extension
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 18, No. 1, February 17, 2004

President Bush's fiscal year 2005 budget, released in early February, includes a one-year extension of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits to elderly and disabled refugees and asylees who are scheduled to lose their benefits. As proposed, the change would take effect Sept. 30, 2004, and would expire at the end of FY 2007. After that, refugees and asylees who do not become U.S. citizens would be able to receive SSI benefits for only seven years after entering the U.S.

SSI provides cash assistance to elderly people and to people who cannot work due to blindness or disability. Immigrant eligibility for a wide range of safety-net benefits, including SSI, was severely restricted by the 1996 federal welfare law. However, Congress provided a window of SSI eligibility for certain categories of immigrants who came to the United States fleeing persecution. People in these categories-which include asylees, refugees, Cuban-Haitian entrants, persons granted withholding of removal, and some Amerasian immigrants-were made eligible for SSI during the first five years after securing their status. After five years, if these immigrants had not become U.S. citizens or qualified under another exception, they would lose their subsistence grant. In 1997, recognizing that it takes more than five years to naturalize, Congress extended to seven years the eligibility for SSI of people in these categories.

A combination of backlogs in the system by which immigrants adjust to permanent residence, processing delays, and language and other barriers have prevented many of these immigrants from becoming citizens within seven years. As a result, thousands of otherwise eligible immigrants have already lost or will soon lose their SSI benefits. According to the Social Security Administration, over 1500 immigrants "timed out" of their SSI benefits in 2003. Another 8,500 will lose their benefits in 2004. (A state-by-state breakdown of the number of refugees projected to reach the end of their SSI eligibility is available at the NILC website: www.nilc.org.)

While the president's proposed one-year extension would provide short-term relief for some of those who face termination of their SSI grant because of the current seven-year limit, it would not help many immigrants who have already lost their benefits. Almost all of those formerly eligible for SSI who have already timed out of the SSI program will have already been in the U.S. for eight years by the time the extension is enacted.

In addition, even if a one-year extension is approved, many immigrants eligible for it will not be able to become citizens before the extension expires. Under current immigration law, only 10,000 permanent resident visas are available yearly for asylees who want to adjust to permanent residence, far fewer than the number of asylees waiting to adjust. The backlog is so large that asylees must wait many years to obtain lawful permanent residence; then it takes at least another four years to obtain their U.S citizenship.

Elderly and disabled immigrants face other obstacles to obtaining citizenship that many simply are unable to overcome. Some are too old or infirm to learn English or to prepare adequately for passing the required civics test. Refugees, asylees, and Cuban-Haitian entrants come to the U.S. to escape persecution, and many have either witnessed or themselves endured events that left them severely physically or psychologically traumatized. Their resulting disabilities, which qualify them for SSI benefits, make it difficult for them to fulfill the normal requirements for naturalization. Although waivers are available to people who, because of disabilities, are not able to meet the English and civics-related requirements for naturalization, refugees are not always aware of how to apply for such waivers, and many never seek assistance in such matters because, as a result of language and cultural factors, they are hesitant to talk to strangers about their disabilities.

The relevant part of the president's budget proposal reads as follows:

The Budget would allow refugees and asylees to receive SSI for eight years after entry into the country. Currently, refugees and asylees who have not become citizens can only receive SSI for seven years after entry. The proposal recognizes that some individuals have been unable to obtain citizenship within seven years due to a combination of processing delays, and for asylees, statutory caps on the number who can become permanent residents. The policy would continue through 2007.

- www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/ssa.html