Collecting Social Security benefits is not possible, because people with no legal immigration status (an estimated 11 million people in the U.S.) can't even apply for a Social Security card. In order to work they have to give an employer a Social Security number they've invented or that belongs to someone else. Payments are deducted from their paychecks, but these workers never become eligible for the benefits the contributions are supposed to provide.
By David Bacon, The Reality Check
May 31, 2016
As soon as Anastasia Flores' children were old enough, she brought them with her to work in the fields. "Ever since 1994 I've always worked by myself, until my children could also work," she recalls. "In Washington, I picked cucumbers, and in Santa Maria here I worked picking strawberries and tomatoes. In Washington, they allowed people to take their children to work with them, and to leave them at the end of the row with the older children taking care of the younger ones."
She didn't think bringing her children to work was unusual. It's the way she had grown up herself. Today she's is in her mid 50s, getting to the age when she will no longer be able to work. Just as she once depended on the labor of the kids for her family's survival, she will still depend on them to survive as she gets old. Without their help, she will have nothing.[...]
Read the full article:
The Reality Check
http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2016/05/no-alternative-but-to-keep-working.html
Capital and Main
http://capitalandmain.com/latest-news/issues/labor-and-economy/aging-fields-no-alternative-keep-working/
New America Media
http://newamericamedia.org/2016/05/aging-in-the-fields-no-alternative-but-to-keep-working.php
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