Here illegally, but entitled to benefits

GOP accuses Obama of giving ‘amnesty bonus’

ineligible for most federal programs. They cannot legally get food stamps, unemployment benefits, Pell grants or federal student loans. They cannot get Medicaid, except for emergency medical services, and are ineligible for subsidies under Obama’s health law.

They can claim some federal tax breaks if they file tax returns. But until now, they were not eligible for Social Security, Medicare or the Earned Income Tax Credit, one of the government’s largest anti-poverty programs.

Obama’s executive actions will offer them Social Security numbers, which eventually could make them eligible for Social Security and Medicare. For Social Security, a worker generally must have paid payroll taxes for 10 years before qualifying for retirement benefits.

More immediately, the immigrants can take ad- vantage of the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. Last year, the credit provided low-income workers with about $70 billion.

Once the immigrants in Obama’s program get Social Security numbers, they can file tax returns claiming the EITC, as long as they meet the income requirements and can document their earnings.

They also can file amended tax returns for up to three years after they were originally due, which means they can claim tax credits going back as far as 2011. (Tax returns for 2011 were due in April 2012).

The maximum credit for families with three or more children is about $6,000, so some families could get as much as $24,000 in credits.

Koskinen said those tax returns would be processed just like any others.

“You have to do the same thing any taxpayer would do, which is you’re going to file a return, say this is what I earned, these are my expenses, deductions, whatever it might be,” Koskinen said. “You have to have the supporting documentation.”

Some in Congress are outraged.

“The administration may have blown open the doors for fraud with amnesty bonuses of more than $24,000 to those who receive deferred action,” said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. “This program severely undermines the White House’s lip-service to enforcing the law and would increase the burden on law-abiding taxpayers.”

Advocates for immigrants say that if immi- “The administration may have blown open the doors for fraud with amnesty bonuses of more than $24,000 to those who receive deferred action. This program severely undermines the White House’s lipservice to enforcing the law and would increase the burden on law-abiding taxpayers.” “Let’s not forget that these workers receive the lowest wages for what they contribute to their communities and local economies. What do we as a nation gain by further impoverishing them?” grants are working and paying taxes, they should get the same benefits as other taxpayers.

“Let’s not forget that these workers receive the lowest wages for what they contribute to their communities and local economies,” said Ellen Sittenfeld Battistelli, a polciy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center. “What do we as a nation gain by further impoverishing them?”