Lawmakers demand Social Security benefits for Cubans who have overstayed their visas, not just those who arrived under the dry-foot immigration policy.

BY OSCAR CORRAL

Miami congressional representatives are prodding the Social Security Administration to change a policy that denies benefits to scores of elderly Cubans who settled in the United States after overstaying their visas.

U.S. Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Republicans, fired off letters to SSA Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart demanding answers.

A Herald article last month detailed cases in which elderly Cubans said they were struggling without Social Security benefits.

Two public-service lawyers who are representing most of the Cubans, Jose Fons and Lizel Gonzalez, said their clients should be eligible -- just like Cubans who arrived without visas.

BENEFITS REJECTED

In 2001, the agency ruled it would provide benefits to Cuban immigrants only if they arrived via the so-called dry-foot policy, in which those who arrive on land are allowed to stay in the United States. Cubans intercepted at sea are repatriated.

Since the ruling, dozens of elderly and disabled Cubans who came here on visas had their benefits initially approved, then rejected by Social Security.

'We respectfully request your leadership in the dialogue that must ensue between the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to dispel the current disparities of these residents' immigration status and SSI eligibility,'' Ros-Lehtinen wrote in a letter to Barnhart late last month.

`UNFORTUNATE STRAIN'

``The necessity of local municipalities to compensate for immigration benefits, traditionally covered under federal jurisdiction, places a great and unfortunate strain on both the communities and individuals.''

Diaz-Balart demanded to know what prompted the policy, adding: ``This reinterpretation by SSA has caused confusion and concern in our community.''

Social Security spokeswoman Patti Patterson confirmed that Barnart received the letters. ''We are still working on getting this resolved,'' Patterson said.

Fons said he and Gonzalez have been so overwhelmed with new cases the past few weeks that they have had to stop accepting new clients.

SSA says it is consulting with the Department of Homeland Security to determine whether that agency differentiates the legal status of Cubans who become residents after overstaying tourist visas and those who come via the dry-foot policy.

But Bill Strassberger, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said Homeland Security makes no difference between the two.

``The bottom line is that the way the law was written, any Cuban paroled or admitted into the U.S. after one year is eligible to apply for permanent residency.''

Social Security branch chief Eric Wessels informed several Miami clients by mail that the agency also was seeking information on how benefits rules apply to Cuban and Haitian immigrants and whether there were any differences.

Undocumented Haitians are not eligible for ''dry-foot'' treatment.

''How the Cuban-Haitian thing applies to this I don't know,'' Strassberger said. ``We've never even needed to worry about it.''