President Barack Obama yesterday signed a law which cuts off suspected Nazi war criminals from receiving United States Social Security benefits, reported The Huffington Post.
According to an Associated Press investigation, “dozens of former Nazis collected millions of dollars in retirement benefits after being forced to leave the United States.” The investigation found that these Nazis receiving American retirement had a variety of background including SS guards and military scientists.
American retirees became outraged when they caught wind that former Nazis were using U.S. tax dollars to produce a living. “It is a slap in the face, not only to every American citizen but to every American veteran,” said Vietnam vet and retired cop Mike King.
Since 1979, 38 of 66 suspects kicked out of America were able to keep their Social Security benefits. This was so because of a loophole in the law concerning deportation and Social Security.
King, who was a police officer in Baton Rouge, receives a $900 Social Security check every month, less than half of what he could actually make. However, he get lowered benefits because he also receives a public pension check every month also. Realizing the injustice following the AP investigation, the bluntly-worded No Social Security for Nazis Act was prompted.
Before the No Social Security for Nazis Act, the law required a final order of deportation before terminating Social Security. The new law explicitly states that any individual involved in Nazi activities during World War II will lose their Social Security benefits, along with having American citizenship revoked.
“I’m delighted and I think it’s the right thing to do,” said Rabbi Marvin Heir, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “As I’ve said before, for those who say it’s a form of collective punishment that also punishes their families, that’s the problem of the Nazi who lied about his past and not our problem.”
Everyone’s past catches up to them sooner or later. In this case, it was a group of people who dedicated years to persecuting and killing off an entire collection of people in a brutal and systematic way.
