Help Elderly and Disabled Refugees Keep Their SSI Benefits

Once upon a time if you were an elderly or disabled refugee, you could receive SSI benefits indefinitely.  But starting in 1996, that was not the case.  After seven years if you had not passed your citizenship test (in English) your SSI benefits would be cut off.  Perhaps this seems fair, but remember these are people who were fleeing persecution in their homelands, are extremely advanced in years or have a physical or mental disability that prevents them from learning English effectively and working.  Unlike other immigrants, many do not have a sponsoring family member, thus no one to take care of them.  Some turn to suicide when their benefits are cut off.  There have been several extensions over the years, but please tell your congressperson that a year or two more here and there is not enough when it comes to protecting the lives of these refugees who have suffered enough human rights abuses.