Government Begins Cutting off Payments to Some Disabled Refugees

[Judi Lynn]

Government Begins Cutting off Payments to Some Disabled Refugees
By Suzanne Gamboa Associated Press Writer
Published: Nov 10, 2003




WASHINGTON (AP) - The government has begun cutting off payments to thousands of disabled and elderly refugees and people seeking asylum who missed a deadline to become American citizens.
About 4,300 people who have been in the country at least seven years are losing monthly Supplemental Security Income checks. When that happens, they also lose eligibility for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor and elderly.

Unlike other legal immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers are not sponsored when they enter the United States. A sponsor agrees to be financially responsible for the immigrant until the immigrant becomes a citizen.

"It's not as if these people have anything to fall back on," said Adey Fisseha, policy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center, an advocate for poor immigrants and their families. "The effects are going to be devastating."

Radhi Alsalami, a 50-year-old father of six from Richardson, Texas, said he does not know what he will do without the $550-a-month SSI check. He was permanently disabled after breaking his back and injuring his leg in a car accident in his native Iraq, which he fled during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. (snip/...)

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA0JQN5UMD.html