Totalization Agreement With Mexico Draws Criticism

By Mike Minton
Talon News - January 16, 2004

The Social Security Totalization agreement that was part of President Bush's "temporary worker" proposal last week has stirred up a hornet's nest among some law-makers, and flies in the face of the General Accounting Office's September, 2003 report, according to Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO).

In a press statement, Tancredo said, "The American public needs to understand how this plan might impact an already fragile Social Security System."

According to Tancredo, the GAO claims "the reliability and integrity of Mexican government data on birth, work history and retirement contributions are open to question because of poor internal controls within the Mexican government."

Dan Stein, Executive Director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, (FAIR), claims that with the proposed plan, an illegal alien who "violated our employment laws, worked fewer than the required number of years [for eligibility], and then returned to Mexico could collect full U.S. Social Security benefits." He adds that this would be done as America's children are told the system may be bankrupt by the time they retire. It would also nullify a 1996 Congressional law barring illegal immigrants from collecting Social Security.

Proponents of totalization say that legal and illegal Mexican workers pay millions, and possibly billions of dollars in payroll taxes, and that it's "only fair" they be allowed to reap the benefits of having paid into the system.

Jo Anne Barnhart, Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, said the SSA has talked with Mexico for the past couple of years about a totalization plan, and that she has sent officials to Mexico to learn about Mexico's Social Security system. Ms. Barnhart claims that the officials said Mexico was prepared to handle a totalization agreement.

Totalization agreements were begun to help employees sent abroad to still have enough credits to draw Social Security benefits with the contributions paid in total in the countries in which the employee worked. Most such agreements -- the United States has 20 -- are with European countries

However, an agreement with Mexico would be exponentially more costly than the agreements with the other 20 countries combined, critics say. Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, says the other countries with which America has totalization agreements do not have public policy encouraging illegal immigration to the United States.

Another worry of lawmakers is the concern that the millions of undocumented Mexicans in America today would be eligible for benefits. Barnhart says current law prohibits illegals from claiming benefits, and that law would not change with a totalization agreement with Mexico.

According to azcentral.com, the Inspector General's report says that the SSA "doesn't consider the work-authorization status of the individual when they earned the wages. It only considers whether the individual can prove he or she paid Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) taxes as part of this work."

According to the GAO report, Mexican citizens would only have to work 6 quarters in the United States, which could then be combined with time worked in Mexico. As long as the total time worked adds up to 40 quarters, that person would qualify for the Social Security program.

"Adding Mexico to the list of countries with which we have reciprocal social security agreements makes no sense unless the primary goal is to encourage more illegal workers to enter the U.S. workforce," Tancredo said. "All who care about the fiscal health of the Social Security System will have serious objections to this plan."