Can’t collect social security that he paid into!!
Gotta read this heart wrenching story. This poor man.
A 66-year-old Florida man gearing up for retirement was stunned to discover he’s not a US citizen when applying for Social Security payments, despite having lived in America since he was a toddler and voting in numerous federal elections for the last six decades.
Jimmy Klass said he was expecting to receive a letter from the Social Security Administration in 2020 telling him when he could expect to start raking in his well-earned benefits after decades of work, but instead was informed his money was “frozen,” News 6 Click Orlando reported .
“I got a notification that it was frozen because I hadn’t proven to them that I was here legally. That was their determination,” he explained.
Klass’s mother was a Canadian, and his paternal grandparents hailed from Germany.
But what always reassured him that he was a US citizen was that his father was a natural-born American.
Klass, who was brought to the US when he was 2 years old in the 1960s, for decades figured that he had been granted citizenship through his father.
“My dad’s roots were in Brooklyn, New York… And two years into my existence, they decided to load up the truck and move to Beverly, so to speak,” Klass told the outlet.
“We moved to Tennessee Avenue in Long Island, to be more specific. And we moved into the house next to my grandparents.”
Klass also explained that years ago he was granted eligibility to join the Marine Corps and even accepted to become a police officer — both of which run vigorous background checks on applicants — but no discrepancies over his citizenship arose.
“I was accepted, but I never took the jobs because I was newly married, had a kid on the way, just bought a house…” he said.
Klass, who’s a registered voter with a Social Security card and valid driver’s license, instead took a union job to support his family and “acted like a regular citizen” since he had no reason to think otherwise.
“I mean, I was accepted everything: photo ID card, I voted here,” he said.
“Never, ever, ever came about where I was here illegally, even though Social Security says I didn’t prove it to them. They gave me my Medicare for over a year and a half.”
The 66-year-old even shared that he’s voted in multiple elections, which is a federal crime, according to the FBI .
“Nobody showed up at my door to arrest me yet,” Klass joked. “But yeah, technically, if you vote, and you’re illegal — it’s federal charges.”
h/t Phen