A 66-year-old Florida man was shocked to learn that he is not a US citizen after enrolling for Social Security benefits. Jimmy Klass has been in America since he was a baby. He even voted in multiple federal elections.
Klass claimed that he expected a letter from the Social Security Administration in 2020 stating that he may begin receiving payments. However, he was told that his money was “frozen,” according to News 6 Click Orlando. “I got a notification that it was frozen because I hadn’t proven to them that I was here legally. That was their determination,” Klass said.
He was even granted eligibility to join the Marine Corps several years ago
Klass’s grandparents lived in Germany, and his mother was from Canada. However, he was certain in his US citizenship because his father was a natural-born American. Klass was moved to the United States in the 1960s, when he was only two years old.
“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 said. “We moved to Tennessee Avenue in Long Island, to be more specific. And we moved into the house next to my grandparents.”
Klass stated that he was even granted eligibility to join the Marine Corps several years ago. He was also approved to become a police officer. Although both of these conduct very thorough background checks on applicants, no problems about his citizenship were ever discovered.
“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 is a registered voter with a Social Security card. He also has a valid driver’s licence. He eventually took a union job to support his family and “acted like a regular citizen,” having no reason to think he was not. “I mean, I was accepted for 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,” Klass added.
Klass revealed that he has voted in multiple elections. According to the FBI, this is a federal offense. “Nobody showed up at my door to arrest me yet,” Klass said jokingly. “But yeah, technically, if you vote, and you’re illegal — it’s federal charges.”
Klass will now have to defend himself before the US Citizenship and Immigration Services
Klass stated that he will now have to defend himself before the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). He has provided the agency with many documentation proving that he has resided in the country as a full citizen for over 60 years. In an attempt to find a solution, the retiree even visited the Canadian consulate in Miami, but nothing worked.
Klass has been forced to use his savings to clear up the issue. “I’ve been spending thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars to try to get my money that I paid into Social Security my entire life,” he said. “I even said to them, ‘Well, if you’re not gonna pay me monthly, give me everything that I paid with interest, and we’ll call it a day and they go, ‘Oh, we can’t do that, either.’ I said, ‘Well, what can you do?’”
The financial burden has forced Klass to return to work. He has set up a GoFundMe to ask for financial assistance so he can hire an attorney and a genealogist.
USCIS said that “due to privacy considerations,” they cannot discuss the matter. “As a matter of practice, and due to privacy considerations, USCIS does not comment on individual immigration cases, and the agency does not share, confirm, or deny immigration information about specific individuals. We adjudicate each application on a case-by-case basis to determine if it meets all standards required under the law. Applicants receive a written decision in the mail, which fully explains our action and lists any appeal rights,” it said.
