"Totalization Agreement With Mexico"

[WhiskeyGirl]

Is this next?

Totalization agreements allow workers who divide their careers between two countries to combine or totalize their work credits under both Social Security systems in order to qualify for benefits if they lack sufficient coverage under either system. The United States has 24 such agreements with nations, most having economies considered to be similar to ours.

The agreement with Mexico is highly controversial because of the millions of Mexicans working without authorization in the United States.  No other nation has so many citizens illegally working in this country.  An estimated 59% of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. are from Mexico.  Despite legislation passed in 2004 that prohibits the payment of Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants, Mexicans who worked in this country illegally could become entitled to Social Security benefits under a totalization agreement, according to the Congressional Research Service.  When determining entitlement for Social Security benefits, the Social Security Administration uses all reported earnings, even for jobs worked while illegal.

IIRC, in Mexico and other countries, folks get actual contributions plus a small interest like 3%.  Social Security is not based on contributions.  Someone working 50 years and contributing hundreds of thousands, could get the same benefit as someone working 10 years and contributing a lot less.  I believe, someone working just a ten year span cold get the same benefit as I get after having worked and paying for 50 years.

Last year, TSCL sought and received an opinion from a respected legal team saying that, under a totalization agreement, Mexican workers appeared to have greater rights to Social Security benefits than American citizens.  The memo said that in the 1960 Supreme Court case Flemming v. Nestor, the court ruled that American workers have no contractual right to receive Social Security payments.  “An American worker who has faithfully paid the employment tax has no legal recourse to any of those monies deposited in the Social Security trust fund,” the memo states.  The totalization agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, however, appears to create “a legally enforceable obligation in United States Courts,” the memo continues.

read more here - http://charlestonteaparty.org/?p=10024