Amnesty advocates often claim that illegal immigrants should be granted amnesty because they will "save" Social Security. These advocates also assert that dramatically increased immigration levels will safeguard our retirements and those of our children. To support these claims, they simply point to the imminent retirement of the baby-boom generation and the need for new workers to contribute payroll taxes in their place. Recently released statistics prove this is plainly false.
For the first time, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has released the hard data necessary for us to understand the impact of low-skilled immigrants, illegal or legal, on our retirements. And the numbers are not pretty. According to the SSA, not only the typical illegal immigrant, but any low-skilled immigrant, will have a devastating impact on the solvency of Social Security - which millions of Americans depend upon for retirement.
Under the current system, illegal immigrants who provided their employers with fraudulent documents and work on the books contribute to Social Security, and they are not eligible for retirement benefits. But what happens if they receive amnesty? Under the Social Security Protection Act, an illegal immigrant who is legalized can qualify for retirement benefits based on their prior work - their prior illegal work. This means, if granted amnesty, the illegal immigrant population will place a tremendous strain on Social Security.
For example, what if a single male illegal immigrant with very low earnings, currently 23- years-old, is granted amnesty and later retires? The SSA found that such an alien will receive (on average and at today's value) more than $46,426 in retirement benefits. What about a similar female illegal immigrant? According to the SSA, she will receive $52,253 in retirement benefits. A married illegal-immigrant couple where only one spouse works? $83,290. And what about a married couple where both spouses work? There would be a loss of $101,184.
Legalizing illegal immigrants imposes a significant drain on Social
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