Court settlement to aid immigrants who lost benefits

Carolyn Hileman - The Voice* | February 29, 2008  |

Elderly and disabled immigrants who were granted asylum in America - but who have lost government benefits because of delays in getting citizenship - will now have their applications to become citizens expedited.
That is the essence of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia, and is expected to be approved at 2 p.m. today in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno.

When granted asylum, these elderly and disabled immigrants, who also are poor, were given monthly Supplementary Security Income benefits of about $600 a month.

Under federal law, these people were supposed to receive the monthly SSI for seven years, until they became U.S. citizens and would be entitled to the benefit.

But because of bureaucratic delays in processing green-card applications and in granting citizenship, the seven years ran out for thousands of immigrants, and their SSI benefits stopped.

An estimated 20,000 disabled and elderly immigrants lost benefits. An additional 40,000 are expected to be terminated in coming years, according to Jonathan Stein, general counsel for Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, which filed the suit last year against several federal agencies.

“It’s a big step forward,” Stein said of the settlement. “It puts them well toward the top of the list for citizenship, and recognizes how much is at stake and what hardship they go through.”

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