By El Vocero - The exclusion from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is the distinction of a politically powerless and historically mistreated minority to receive second-class treatment that belies their status as equal Americans, according to the advocacy of Puerto Rican Luis Vaello Madero.
This was part of the arguments presented yesterday before the U.S. Supreme Court by attorneys Hermann Ferré and John Ferré, representatives of Vaello Madero, a former New York resident currently residing in Loíza, against whom Social Security is claiming back $28,000 in benefits received from the SSI program.
The federal Justice Department, under the administration of then-President Donald Trump, asked the highest judicial forum in the United States to reverse the decisions of Federal Court Judge Gustavo Gelpí and the Boston-based First Circuit Court of Appeals that determined that Vaello Madero does not have to return the money.
Counsel argued that the Social Security Administration sent a notice to their client that despite his needs, that he was born a U.S. citizen and resides in the U.S., his SSI benefits were terminated because he was "outside the United States".
"If elderly, blind and disabled citizens who meet the need-based eligibility criteria for SSI are deprived of the same protection under the Fifth Amendment when Congress excludes them from this uniform national program solely because they reside in Puerto Rico, they are politically powerless and have suffered a history of discrimination on the basis of race and ancestry," the brief states.
They assert that the definition "outside the United States" arises because the place of residence and origin is a territory identified as unincorporated "and serves no purpose other than to impose a disadvantage, a separate status and, therefore, a stigma through the withholding of benefits."
They claim that the petitioner's (Federal Justice) only response is that Congress can treat each territory and the states differently.
"This case is not about equality between territories or between states and territories, but about equal treatment of U.S. citizens under a national program," the brief states.
Attorneys argue that outside of the petitioner's calculus is the legitimate interest of Puerto Ricans like Vaello Madero, who expect that their U.S. citizenship and the right to move freely throughout the U.S. entitles them to the same federal benefits on the Island to which those residing in the continental United States are entitled.
"This trust is frustrated when they are denied benefits unless they leave their homes and families and move to the mainland, or when they are stripped of the national benefits they lawfully received while residing on the mainland simply for returning to Puerto Rico, their home on U.S. soil," the document states.
Vaello Madero became eligible for the SSI program in June 2012. In July 2013 she moved to Loíza and continued to receive disability payments through her account in New York.
During all that time, he was unaware that his relocation to Puerto Rico would trigger the decrease in disability payments. In June 2016, the injured party became aware that he was no longer eligible to receive the payments.