Dear Editor (Queens Chronicle):I have read several accounts of both illegal and legal aliens abusing the system by applying for and receiving the government’s benefits (blue) card which allows them to receive free food. Some stated that the people using the cards were only speaking Spanish, were in their 20s or 30s and young enough to be working and paying for their own food. One said the people using the benefits cards were not always the people whose pictures were on the cards. Others claimed other examples of misrepresentation.
I never believed this to be the case and was offended by such letters. However, recently I have noticed the same things.
One young person left the supermarket with her $200 worth of groceries, which she received for free, and got into a 2009 SUV. Another finished with her purchase of $165 worth of food, for which she paid zero, and then passed the card to the man who was standing behind her which he used to get his groceries ($126) for free. The cashier never questioned him even though it was not his photo on front of the card. Disgraceful. Where is the justice here?
I am deeply saddened that I am paying taxes and my taxes are also going to support these people who are abusing the system. They do nothing to contribute to society, but continue to take all the free benefits they can get, which is causing all of us who are legal to pay for these benefits with our tax dollars, which continuously rise each year. I am quite sure that none of those who are illegal aliens are paying taxes, etc. and are not contributing to the U.S. economy.
Something needs to be done about these people milking this society dry. The U.S. government needs to overhaul this benefits program and give the free benefits, formerly call food stamps, to U.S. citizens and senior citizens who legally deserve them.
I came to the U.S. 15 years ago; became a citizen and am proud to call the U.S. my country now. But if you walk on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, you hardly, if ever, see a U.S. flag. All you see are flags of Mexico, Columbia, etc. It is indeed a shame what is happening here. Everyone should contact their congressman and senators and demand that they do something about this free benefits program and the abuse that is going on and increasing day by day. No wonder so many people are trying to sneak into the U.S. illegally.
Hector Hernandez
Jackson Heights
26 comments:
Bravo, Mr. Hernandez.
What you don't mention is that the politicians set the example by ripping off the taxpayer year after year. If we could get politicians that care about the "Public Good" instead of their own good it would be a huge step in the right direction.
crapper - is there a "game the system for dummies" book out there? If you cant beat em, get dummi-fied
Thank you for this honest and objective letter. The swipable benefit cards should make it easy to see how the money is used. The bad thing is nobody is tracking it.
i witnessed a similar incident in stop & shop on union tpke
girl (young) with like 4 kids dressed up to go paint the town red paying for groceries with a card. as i exit the store she gets into a toyota suv all pimped out
it is a freaking scam
"crapper - is there a "game the system for dummies" book out there? If you cant beat em, get dummi-fied"
There is no book. People use their brain to figure this out and have the guts to do it. The are able to figure it out because they probably doesn't know they can't apply for one in the first place... then the dominoe effect takes effect.
"girl (young) with like 4 kids dressed up to go paint the town red paying for groceries with a card. as i exit the store she gets into a toyota suv all pimped out "
Well, on the other hand, the girl might be helping her grandmother pay for her grandmother's grocery with her grandmother's card because her grandmother walks too slow or something. You have to think of the other side too; not just accuse of one side...because everyone is blinded side and bias to one side. It's good to be devil's advocate to see new viewpoints.
Uncle Sap.
Growing up in Queens, I've seen these abuses all the time. I'm fed up of bleeding heart liberals who feel there may be another side. IDs used to be checked when the card program started, but not anymore it seems. Abuse by immigrants has been rampant for years. The majority of immigrants are trained on how to abuse the system the day they walk out of JFK. These lessons are learned through family/friend connections. This happens from blue collar areas to wealthy areas where the postman delivers SS checks to McMansions owned by folks that have been in the country for a few short years. The only other side of the coin is the fact that abuse to me and you is simply free money to someone else and were thought of as suckers for not collecting. Unfortunatly, I prefer to remain a sucker and work for the food on my plate.
Columbia[sic]. It's spelled Colombia.
Nice try Hector.
It's called an editorial mistake by the newspaper.
Diablo....no dinero!
How many cervezas can I buy at one time with my ill gotten blue card?
Ocho...?...Si...bueno!
You're not allowed to buy beer or hot food with an EBT card.
I've 24 years of draining the system and I plan to continue doing it.
I used to love when it was paper food stamps. You could buy drugs with them, go to the chinese food and a $5 meal cost $10 in food stamps.
Bless AMERICA!
I've 24 years of draining the system and I plan to continue doing it.
I used to love when it was paper food stamps. You could buy drugs with them, go to the chinese food and a $5 meal cost $10 in food stamps.
your such a loser! and what are you going to do in your older years?? well at least the us normal folks will have retirement pensions and S.S., plus investsments. you are without a doubt part of the problem and need to be thrown off.
You can thank the well funded immigration lobbies for this, thank Catholic Charities, the Lutheran Refugee Resettlement Agency, thank Safe Horizons, for the illegal immigrant invasion.
They are taught how to scam the system by these agencies.
The people who work at welfare speak their language and from their countries. Been to a welfare office lately? see how many Americans work there.
The jackpot baby machines, ie Mexican, Ecuadorean women, they could be buying food for their children. Of course they'll eat more of it than the children.
they pump out offspring because the more kids, the more money for her. This really goes against ZPG. it's almost as if they are overpopulating on purpose, never use birth control and don't care who is going to support their child. I know many Americans who did not have children simply because they could not afford them, not so with illegal immigrants
You must have been behind them one day as the cashier sorts out their big fact WIC check. the cashier is probably on food stamps/WIC herself. WIC stands for Women and Infant care.
The idea is that the man of the house will take all the good food,so there has to be supplemental food for the wife/mother and children- orange juice, cornflakes, milk.
cut off the benefits, you cut off the supply of illegal immigrants. they can't and don't live on underground employment, money they make from standing on street corners.
The cards are used to buy alcohol, cigs, lotto even. Just watch at any bodega. The same card is given for any benefit, and once you have the card and apply for the other benefits, they are easily granted. So all you need to do (if you're illegal) is go to a city hospital, they will grant you medicaid w/o a ss number, then you receive the card in mail, bring it to any city agency and voila, food stamps, cash assistance, public health insurance, etc. The cards also count as gov't issued ID, so now you can go get a drivers license with it. Yes, you need an ss card also, but how hard is it to get another Jose Gonzalez or Maria Gomez to lend you theirs?
Fifteen years ago I use to work with a woman who worked as a supervisor at welfare during the day, weekends and evenings with me in a department store, and still received gov't checks due to the use of several different ss numbers. It's probably even easier now since everything is computerized and their seems to be zero oversight of these agencies.
send copies of this thread to your U.S.Senator Schumer.
if you call ,make sure the clerk reads back your complaint. i experienced a clerk who did not record it, and hung up on me when i told her she was incompetent.the Ma.Scott Brown landslide election has got Schumer in a panic.
Illegals have gotten a free pass for years and this will continue. Politicians know about this, but don't care. They don't want to be called racist. If you cut the money off, they will disappear. There are no politicians with testicles that will step up to the plate and do something about it. My dad was an outpatient at a city hospital and received his necessary medication at a reduced rate. Everyone there was hispanic and you barely heard someone speak English. The illegals get all their medical care and medications for free. They even get free formula for their babies (WIC program). I was in a drug store and there were 2 senior citizens filling a prescription. When the girl told them their bill came to $180, the senior citizen asked if she could have half the number of pills, because she didn't have the money. She looked at her husband and said she could cut the pills in half so they would last longer. I'm sure this woman pays her taxes, so she can pay for some illegal's medication. I just think this is disgusting. America does nothing for its citizens, yet we take care of every foreigner that crosses our border. Politicians take note -- people are pissed and they are going to vote everyone out of office that doesn't start caring and doing for legal immigrants and citizens. Enough is Enough!!!
The U.S. government needs to overhaul this benefits program and give the free benefits, formerly call food stamps, to U.S. citizens and senior citizens who legally deserve them.
Amen - These are the worst of times in which the laid-off US citizen or legal resident alien worker does not qualify for food stamps because he / she has a house or a checking account. So these illegals, criminals since they jumped the fence get this benefit and many others because they are illegal who speak Spanish and no one can tell the difference between legal Spanish people or illegals form Mexico or S. America?
I am a pharmacist and I see the abuse everyday. I see so many able-bodied individuals getting hundreds of dollars of medicine for free and then they cant fork over the $1/$3 copay. I sympathise with those on Medicaid because of the recent economic troubles and yes I can tell the difference.
Just today I had a long term medicaid recipient tell me how he just got this deal on a flat screen, only $1800, I straight up told him "Wow and you are on Medicaid!, How nice!" Then i told him to get lost, politely of course.
So sad that the senior citizens did not get a cost of living increase and won't get one for the next two years, yet their bills and taxes are going up. New York is an expensive city to live in. The only reason the illegals can afford to live here is because they are scamming the system and getting their groceries, medicine and rent for free courtesy of the US taxpayer. When the economy was good, the able body employed paid for these people. Times are hard now with lots of people losing their jobs. Other than unemployment insurance, what benefits are these hard working people receiving from the government? The answer is nothing. The economy is in the toilet, yet these illegals continue to feed off hard working citizens. When is it going to stop? Better yet, when are our politicians and government officials going to smarten up and do something about this?
again you ny'ers cant think big: why is this allowed to happen? Why is obamer trying to fast track amnesty for all the illegals? Any takers (this aint a new idea, bushie wanted to do it as well). Come on brain dead America!!! let the wrong answers rain in!!!
again you ny'ers cant think big: why is this allowed to happen? Why is obamer trying to fast track amnesty for all the illegals? Any takers (this aint a new idea, bushie wanted to do it as well). Come on brain dead America!!! let the wrong answers rain in!!!
WHY?
VOTES! VOTES! VOTES!
TWEEDER PROGRAM$ TWEEDER PROGRAM$
CHEAP LABOR CHEAP LABOR
LANDLORDS ARE HAPPY
THEY MAKE NO COMPLAINTS
RESPECT BOSSMAN
DONT HAVE THE FOGGIEST HOW THE SYSTEM SHOULD BE RUN
NEXT QUESTION
You can do something about the illegals issues. Bring attention to them; if they live in a basement near you, it's probably an illegal housing issue and the landlord knows full well he/she is breaking the law - call 311 DOB investigation.
If you patronize stores who use workers that are illegal - call out the owner on it to be law abiding or you will call the IRS on that buisness for not paying payroll W2 taxes and the buisness itself evading taxes. That will get notice by the owner.
Don't patronize stores that are run by illegals - they steal jobs form legal citizen because they take less pay to be attractive to an employer - these folks are being abused by the employer who refuses to pay a minimum wage set by NYS - call the NYS labor board. But the most effective means of stopping this practice is to not shop there and publize this to friends and family. Don't encourage illegal behavior.
If you see illegals with food stamps and WIC report the establishment for not properly identifying the recipient. If an establishment is providing goods other than what is allow under the programs - report the establishment for violating the law.
If you hire a contractor to work on your home - insist no illegals will be tolerated on your property; homeowners beware that serious crimes murders, rape, torture, have been committed against females in their home by illegals during home renovations at quieter times in past years. Know who is left alone with you in your home - your life depends on it. Many illegals are mentally ill and demonstrate it in subtle ways. Last week in Flushing a Chinese woman was killed by an illegal with her heart organs ripped out of her body!!
Recently we saw bands of illegal Mexicans going door to door during snowstorms soliciting to shovel snow. Know whom you are opening the door to - watch out for push-ins - know whom you are opening the door to first.
Women should be extra cautious around the groups of men congregating at subway stairwells - where sexual harassment is commonplace. Do not wait at bus-stops at night in these areas along Roosevelt Ave.Do have someone wait with you or escort you until you are safely on the bus. When you are threaten in any way by illegals dial 911 for your safety's sake!
I am a pharmacist and I see the abuse everyday. I see so many able-bodied individuals getting hundreds of dollars of medicine for free and then they cant fork over the $1/$3 copay. I sympathise with those on Medicaid because of the recent economic troubles and yes I can tell the difference.
Just today I had a long term medicaid recipient tell me how he just got this deal on a flat screen, only $1800, I straight up told him "Wow and you are on Medicaid!, How nice!" Then i told him to get lost, politely of course.
A Guyanese employee who luckily got a green card somehow, got laid-off last year. When we spoke recently I sympathized with his situation and responded that he deserves congratulations as he indicated the stars, the moon and the sun aligned perfectly as to why he came to the US.
He is collecting food stamps, receives a section 8 apartment subsidy, takes free classes and is well beyond his 70th week on unemployment. He prays to Allah for Pres. Obama to continues to help everyone in need. His sister whom lives in the same house hold is on welfare with her young teenage son.
His mother 58 years old is on disabilty because she had to stand in her job at retail Conway. His father is a Security guard but is common law husband thus the section 8. My friend indicated he had tooth problems and had them cared for at Elmhurst Hospital for free as he claimed need. Allah bless America - please send over more Guyanese girls for him as he sounds a little weary and Obama please continue extending his unemployment benefits!
re:you can do something about illegals.....
i suggest that your whistle blowing be done anonymously. use a pay phone(take many quarters). after many public notices,you will reach a live clerk. many civic minded citizens perform this duty.
it is your neighborhood and Nation,love and cherish it.
you must not reveal your identity,the violators may retaliate.
Check out the big, nasty supermarket on Northern and 160th. I used to shop there but can no longer bear walking by the living turtles and frogs (scrambling to escape and probably starving to death).
I have NEVER seen anyone pay for their groceries there with anything but a benefits card! And the parking lot is filled with Mercedes.
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