For the past two weeks America has been focusing on immigration reforms, but the media and Congress have forgotten one part of this big issue: disabled (legal and illegal) immigrants.
 

In 1994 Congress established laws that require the immigration service to accommodate disabled people who meet the requirements for United States citizenship. This law was difficult to administer because of the different levels of disabilities. Because of their disabilities and their inability to comprehend English many are unable to successfully complete the application forms.
 

This action results in rulings inconsistent on disability waivers. The Immigration agency has issued several sets of guidelines to help its employees judge whether a naturalization applicant should be exempt from taking the English and Civics tests. These tests are in English and not in the applicants' native language.
 

Immigrants who want a waiver to stay in the United States must provide a statement from a doctor; the statement should include the correlation between their particular mental or physical condition and the ability to learn. The majority of the time, disabled immigrants are left to the mercies of immigration officers who have law enforcement training rather then medical training. This creates inconsistent rulings on disability waivers and confusion within the disabled community.
 

The United States continues to deny Social Security Income to legal disabled immigrants residing in the United States since August 22, 1996. This is a direct civil rights violation and needs to be addressed by the US House and Senate. These legal actions took place less than a month after President George Herbert Walker Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
 

Disabled immigrants are forced to learn English, speak it fluently and have a working permit before entering the United States. This is not required of non disabled immigrants and is discriminatory.
 

The current estimate of legal disabled immigrants is close to 100,000, and they are not eligible for SSI at this time. This population would have been covered under President Clinton’s provision to assist any disabled immigrant that wants to live in the United States, but President George W. Bush informed the public that it is against this policy. He repealed the Clinton provision that protected disabled immigrants in 2002. Last week Congress and the House gave disabled immigrants new hope by tabling any new immigration reform.
 

Similarly, a working poor immigrant family residing in the United States that has a child that becomes paralyzed in a car accident after 2002 would be denied SSI. In some cases, he would also be denied Medicaid.

Second, Under the Clinton agreement, these disabled immigranta qualify for SSI if their sponsor or supporting relative dies, or became impoverished, or if their personal resources are depleted. The current legal immigrant law helps the severely disabled at that time but was not on SSI then because they were receiving other support, i.e.,  from a relative or a sponsor, or because they were spending down their own limit. Thus, not providing support to the disabled immigrant or if an immigrant who was spending down his resources. The new Bush proposal would deny SSI to these disabled immigrants. Therefore, these immigrants could become destitute and have no place to turn. They would be penalized for trying to be independent. How tragic!

Third, the Clinton provision would exclude low-income legal immigrants who have been living in the United States since August 22, 1996. The Disabled immigrants who continue to work and are not on SSI but continue to work until their impairment made work impossible are not eligible for SSI or SSDI. Under the Bush agreement, these individuals would become eligible for SSI when they could no longer work. The United States government would penalize them for having continued to work as long as they could and would leave them with no safety net when their disability became severe.

This provision would cause some of those to whom it denies SSI to lose Medicaid.

In some states, most legal immigrants who are terminated from SSI will be terminated from Medicaid, as well. These are states in which SSI recipients are automatically eligible for Medicaid but there are few other ways that the low-income elderly and disabled can qualify for Medicaid. In these states, termination from SSI generally means termination from Medicaid. Consequently, this would leave a substantial number of poor legal immigrants who are become severely disabled — and who have high medical bills as a result — with no health insurance.
 

Fourth, many welfare benefits are denied to disabled people without full immigration status – such as (DLA) Disability Living Allowance.  Since 1999, disabled people without full immigration status have been excluded from most community care legislation – such as the right to meals on wheels, direct payments, night-sitter services, day care center services, or disabled mechanical adaptation devices.
 

Disabled Asylum-seekers are also subject to a modern "poor law" whereby they can be forced to live wherever they find a residence that fits their low-income status.

Disabled asylum-seekers are in a particularly vulnerable situation. Disabled people, like everyone else are subject to immigration controls and are liable to be deported. Disabled immigrants are more likely to be deported because they cannot be part of the American workforce upon entering the United States.
 

Senior and disabled immigrants are also suffering grave hardships because of restrictions on citizenship applications by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
 

Finally: Disabled Refugees are eligible to apply for citizenship after five years residence in the United States. They have up to seven years to secure United States citizenship or risk losing Supplementary Security Income, (federal funds designed to help elderly, blind, and low-income disabled people meet basic needs that include food, clothing, and shelter).
 

In other words these poor disabled immigrants would have to leave the United States, return home and rely on assistance from their native family, friends, and government.
 

The question now remains is what are American Disabled leaders doing about this major problem and are Independent Living Centers aiding these foreign disabled nationals to become Americans?