Speech #1050009860

A British citizen who ban lived in the United States for 40 years. working most of those years as a nanny. Boyack never applied for U.S. citizenship. Now. the Islip resident regrets her omission. welfare regulations enacted by Congress are expected to cut nearly 5.000 elderly. blind and disabled Immigrants on Long Island from Supplemental Security Income rolls. All of them are legal permanent residents. a status that is a step below citizenship. Among them is Lueretla Lopez. 75. of Freeport. a Dominican immigrant who has been In Freeport for 17 years and labored for eight years in a local factory assembling artificial Christmas trees. Boyack and Lopez received letters this month saying they will lose their monthly payments556 and $570. respectivelybecause neither became a citizen during their stay in the United States. "I couldnt believe it when I got that letter." said Susan levin. Boyacks granddaughther. who takes care of Boyack in a firstfloor apartment at Levins house. "Theres nothing we can do. The last check will come in July." Boyack and Lopez faceo i difficult choice at a late juncture in life: struggle through the forms. tests and language requirements of naturalization. or enroll in local aid programs. Bnoyack Is household and nearly deaf. Lopez. who speaks only Spanish. would have to learn English at 75. So both will probably apply for lessgenerous state aid. and depend on their families or charities to make up the difference. "Shes 75 years old." said Lopez son Jose. an importexport businessman from Miami who supports a wife and two children. "Whos going to take the load? As we say in the Dominican Republic. we have to put more water in the soup." Boyack and Lopez are just two of 4.929 immigrants on Long Island considered likely to lose their SSI benefits as part of Congress gettough welfare policies. adopted In August anl scheduled to take effect Aug. 22. The changes. aimed at saving the federal government $9 billion over four years. will cut off all but a narrow sector or noncltizen Immigrants from SSI. Similar cuts are looming in the food stamp. Medicaid and Aid to Families With Dependent Children programs. Congress enacted the cutbacks in an effort to slow socalled chain migration. which occurs when immigrants who obtain citizenship petition to bring elderly family members to America from their home country. The elderly relatives often have a few wageearning and taxpaying years ahead of them and little means of support from their sponsors. "We are paying for the sinners who abuse the system." Jose Lopez said. Congress also made sponsors pledges of support as legally binding as a contract and increased the period of time in which the sponsors income can be considered In calculating the new Immigrants need for federal aid. In part. the moves were inspired by statistics showing that the number of Immigrants using welfare programs has greatly Increased. For example. the number or immigrants receiving SSI quadrupled In a decade ending In 1993. and immigrants rose from 4 percent of all SSI ollents to more than 11 percent over that time period. according to the General Accounting Office. Congress Investigative arm. "The SSI system is available to people who come to this country and never pay into the system and didnt work." said Dan Stein. executive director of the Federation for Amerloan Immigration Reform. which supported the welfare revisions. But Stein acknowledged that Congress may not have intended to pull the safety net away from unemployable Immigrants over age 64 who worked and paid taxes. "The fact that there are tough cases out there has underscored the need for some grandfathering of hardship cases." Stein said. "But we wont support this If we encourage more chain immigration." On this point only. Stein agrees with actlvilts like Margie McHugh. executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. "We still dont believe the American people really intended to throw elderly pooplo out onto the street in the name of welfare reform." she said. "No one that I know of argues with the Idea of people being responsible for the folks they bring into the country. but I think that for immigrants. like everyone else. anfnresoon things happen." McHugh added. Federal officials have since loosened citizenship rules for the disabled. but have not moved to reinstate benefits to unforeseen hardship cases. McHugh said.