Illegal immigrants who were given amnesty by President Barack Obama's arguably unlawful unilateral executive actions will soon start collecting Social Security, and the Social Security Administration is moving forward with its plans even though a federal judge ordered the administration to temporarily halt its amnesty efforts.
As a result of Obama's executive actions, in 2017, the Social Security Administration expects to start providing benefits to at least 16,000 undocumented aliens, who will collect from the Old-Age, Survivor's, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, reported the National Review.
SSA Chief Actuary Steven Goss told Republican Senator Ron Johnson that the number of beneficiaries will continue to increase for 40 years, eventually maxing out at 695,000 people, maybe more, depending on how many illegal immigrants enter the country.
Despite a federal judge's injunction against Obama's November 2014 executive actions, which put a hold on the federal government's amnesty efforts, Goss told the National Review that the SSA is moving forward as if nothing happened.
"Based on the best advice and counsel we have gotten, we're working on the assumption that these [executive actions] will persist," Goss told the National Review. "Most indications we seem to get are that it's likely that this will get back on track, with some delay."
Goss told the National Review that he expects 58,000 new workers will be covered under the program later this year, though they won't yet be eligible to collect benefits.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection also seemingly ignored the judge's injunction, as it continues to abide by the relaxed border protection and enforcement guidelines established following Obama's executive actions.
While the majority of amnestied immigrants will have to wait until 2017 to start seeing Social Security benefits, a March 4 audit conducted by the SSA inspector general found that thousands of illegal immigrants have already been using Social Security numbers - of people who have been dead for decades - to apply for work, and sometimes to open bank accounts, CNSNews reported.
