WASHINGTON — Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) penned a letter to Social Security Administration Commissioner Carolyn Colvin requesting details on exactly how many illegal immigrants have received Social Security numbers (SSNs) resulting from the President’s executive actions on immigration over the last three years.
“It is our understanding that through January 8, 2013, the Social Security Administration had granted approximately 90,000 Social Security Numbers (SSNs) to noncitizens who were granted deferred action pursuant to the President’s ‘Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals’ (DACA) program,” the letter reads.
Approximately 600,000 younger illegal immigrants applied for DACA protections, which allowed those individuals a protected legal status.
Senators Sessions and Sasse asked how many individuals applied for, and received SSNs as a result of both DACA and the Obama administration’s more recent “executive amnesty” actions which effectively would grant legal status to the parents of DACA immigrants, as well as anyone who has been in the United States since at least 2010.
Both programs are currently stalled, as a federal judge in Texas found the President’s actions were unconstitutional. The White House has vowed to fight for the program all the way to the Supreme Court.
The letter concludes by asking Commissioner Colvin for information on how many illegal immigrants have “applied for and received benefits under either the Social Security Disability Insurance program or the Supplemental Security Income program.”
Senator Sasse is sponsoring a bill which would prohibit Social Security Numbers for amnestied illegal immigrants. The bill, cosponsored by Senator Sessions, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, would “prevent billions of dollars in being transferred annually from U.S. workers to illegal workers in the form of low-income tax credit support payments.”
Like this article? Hate it? Follow me and let me know how you feel on Twitter!
— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.