Vladimir Rukin is 79 years old, and his wife, Inna, is 74. The Rukins arrived in the United States from St. Petersburg on June 3, 1997 and settled in Queens, fully believing that they would spend their golden years living the American way. In the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia, Rukin worked as an engineer and even saved $800. He does not work now in the United States, but relies on old age benefits; after living here for five years, he applied for naturalization. The Rukins were receiving Social Security Insurance (SSI) benefits, about $475 dollars per month, medical treatment, and food stamps which all enabled them to make ends meet.
No apparent obstacles stood in Vladimir Rukin’s path to becoming a citizen, never sued, never arrested, never... never... never... Because of his age, he didn’t even have to provide fingerprints with his citizenship application; however, before completing the final phase of the citizenship process – an honor he holds dearly and takes very seriously – Rukin needed to wait for a personal background check from the Dept. of Homeland Security. The Rukins took the initial citizenship exam one year ago. Inna became a citizen within a month, but Vladimir is still waiting for a reply from the Dept. of Homeland Security. According to the welfare reform law passed on August 22, 1996, political refugees who arrived after that date must become citizens within seven years or otherwise lose the right to public assistance. In July, Vladimir stopped receiving his SSI pension, slashing the family’s income by half and making life unbearable.
Vladimir is not alone. The same thing happened to 68-year-old Mikhail Livitansky, and to 63-year-old Arkady Katz from Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood. Both arrived to the United States in 1997, both took the citizenship exam, but both have waited more than a year for their reviews from the Dept. of Homeland Security before they can take the oath of citizenship. Both men have been stripped of their SSI benefits and are suffering as a result. Levitansky receives welfare, but that is a third of SSI. In Russia, he has lived through two heart attacks and is worried that he will not live to see the day he becomes a U.S. citizen. Katz is left to borrow money from friends, around $150 dollars per month, promising to repay the debt when he will again start getting the pension.
Rukin, Katz and Levitansky were not just hit in their pocketbooks, but in their dignity as well. Levitansky, for example complains that he can’t exercise the rights of citizenship such as voting, and serving on a jury, which he learned about while preparing for the naturalization exam. In an interview with Newsday he said that he can’t “participate like others, in the moral life of this country.”
According to Social Security Administration estimates, by the year 2010, 20,000 immigrants will lose SSI benefits from not becoming citizens on time. Attorney Irina Mateychenko, head of the New York Legal Assistance Group, explains that these people have no other means of subsistence. They can no longer look for work, and after a few years of a pleasant life in the United States, they must bear not only a material impact but also an emotional one.
The legendary “American Dream” is understood by all; for the young it is education and success, for the elderly it is well-deserved peace and rest.
In the words of Irina Mateychenko, the Welfare Reform law “hits unintended individuals.” Attorney Barbara Weiner of the Upstate Law Project believes that for many elderly and infirm immigrants, seven years in not enough time to adjust to life in the United States and learn the English and American history well enough to pass the citizenship exam.
Manhattan lawyer Boris Palant, presents the case for the opposite position in this debate. “Why should America, having invited the immigrants here, have to provide them with additional benefits? Someone who arrives here in their old age immediately starts getting SSI and takes up a better standard of living than most elderly folks who’ve worked their whole lives and saved for their pension. After retirement American seniors are not granted Medicaid, it is only offered to those who have no savings.”
American seniors drain their savings on doctors, pharmaceuticals, hospitals, or assisted living expenses before they become eligible for free or low cost medical coverage. “Where is the justice here? Where is the morality?” Palant continued. “Is it right for newcomers to get everything right away? Is it just that one had to work for it and the others did not? We can assume that most immigrant newcomers have spent their lives working in their birth countries and were paid for it and naturally these people are entitled to receive their governments’ support in their old age. But should that support come from a government that did not benefit one iota from their work?
“Now, I am not even talking about those that abuse the system. How many fine German silk stockings, sofas and armchairs have been distributed because Medicaid allegedly required them? On the other hand, I do not understand why it takes a year to review an elderly immigrant’s application, let alone someone who did not have to submit fingerprints. This is a sign of a broken system, and it must be addressed.”
New immigrants first get green cards and 5 years later become eligible for citizenship. Impoverished elderly immigrants who arrived after August 22, 1996, when the Welfare Reform bill was enacted, are automatically qualified to receive public assistance benefits, but if within seven years in this country they do not step into the ranks of citizens, those benefits are taken away. All of this is only applicable to immigrants who arrive as refugees, and not as guest workers, or who come with an invitation from family already here. “Many do not immediately file for citizenship after 5 years with a green card,” explained Palant.
“The point of this law is to induce elderly immigrants to take an active interest in their new host country, having become permanent residents. But can we honestly say that the elderly Russian community has integrated in to American life? Is Brighton Beach really America? But it’s not only Brighton, and not only Russians, but many ethnic groups’ elderly who do not speak English. Levitansky complains of not being able to vote or serve on a jury; of course the right to vote is essential and necessary, but how does he expect to serve on a jury if he doesn’t have sufficient mastery of the language to understand the nuance and details of a case? His words are merely empty threats.”
The 7 year SSI program is structured to facilitate the integration of immigrants into U.S. society. Dan Kane, a spokesperson for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, now a part of the Dept. of Homeland Security, said, “Regretfully, many refugees have been cut off from public assistance, but many lost the services by their own fault; they did not submit their naturalization applications immediately after 5 years of legal permanent residency in the United States. The naturalization process actually takes about a year,” declared Kane. “We do not hide this fact. The problem is that these folks are not in a hurry.”
Is it right that an immigrant who arrived in the United States on August 21, 1997 but has not become a citizen, and is still getting SSI benefits, while someone who arrived just two days later is no longer getting them? Congress also understands that this law is affecting some unintended people. Congressman Benajmin Kardin (D-MD) introduced a measure that would extend public assistance benefits to elderly and sick legal refugee immigrants by two more years. The measure is now being discussed in committee, and it is hoped that the two year extension will give lawmakers time to take the next step toward finding a solution to this, and will give immigrants the time to finally become citizens.
The United States is kind toward elderly and sick immigrants, concludes attorney Boris Palant. But to be “just a little kind” is as impossible as is being “just a little pregnant.” If you begin a kindness, you must see it through to the end.
