In a relatively startling revelation that may recast the debate over illegal immigration across the country, The New York Times reported today that the country's estimated 7 million illegal immigrants may be providing a $7 billion subsidy to Social Security -- roughly 10 percent of last year's surplus. Most illegal immigrants, the article notes, manage to acquire fraudulent residency and work documents so as to land jobs subject to payroll taxes, yet will likely never draw benefits. An immigration-fraud network based in Northern Virginia was broken up late last year after allegations that it provided thousands of illegal immigrants with Social Security cards, green cards, passports, and drivers licenses -- the very documents needed to land those jobs.

This development is important because it ties together the delicate reform issues of Social Security and illegal immigration, both of which have nationwide implications and have tended to divide the country's ruling Republican majority. The link also serves as a Catch-22 for reformers on either issue -- if legislation is passed to strengthen the enforcement of the country's immigration laws without adequately considering a guest-worker program or amnesty, a large and significant subsidy to Social Security may dry up, thus weakening a system already headed towards stormy waters.

Immigration-related debates have played themselves out in both Virginia and Maryland recently, many of which focused on the economic and social impact of the area's growing population of illegal immigrants.

Late last month, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) signed into law controversial legislation requiring that local and state governments verify the immigration status of any individual aged 19 or older that requests non-emergency public benefits. The law, which proponents claim would simply stem the rising costs of Medicaid and other social services by limiting their use to legal residents, was strongly opposed by officials in Fairfax and Arlington counties, where the majority of the state's estimated 250,000 illegal immigrants make their homes.

Maryland, with an estimated 200,000 illegal immigrants, has recently entertained similar legislative proposals to crack down on illegal immigration, including measures to allow for the confiscation of any car driven by undocumented immigrants and to sanction embassies that grant them identification cards. DCist recently reported on a measure which, if passed, would have made English the state's official language (it was recently killed while in committee, though).

This DCist is curious how information concerning the subsidy to Social Security will affect future debates on the issue of illegal immigration in the area.

Disclaimer: This DCist is himself a non-immigrant alien (legalese for international student) -- paying into the system but never likely to draw benefits from it.