Jenniffer González says she will use “all available mechanisms” to get Supplemental Social Security

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Washington-based commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez said Monday that she will use all available mechanisms – including going to court – to ensure the equality of Puerto Ricans living on the island who would qualify for the Income Security Program. Supplementary (SSI).

The federal government worsened its defense by alleging that it can deny these benefits in territories – such as Puerto Rico – that did not “enter” the United States “voluntarily” through “negotiation.” “What the Department of Justice is taking from island cases to maintain the doctrine of discrimination against Puerto Ricans,” the commissioner argued.

“I will use all available mechanisms to ensure equality, including the citizenship project and go to court”, Added Gonzalez, who is a friend of the court in the discrimination case raised by Jose Luis Vaello for the exclusion from the program after moving to reside on the island from New York City.

Gonzalez said he is confident that members of the U.S. Supreme Court, where this case stands, will assess discrimination “in the same way that segregation in schools was avoided in the 1960s.” “Every territory is defended. I’m interested in Puerto Rico, the 3.2 million American citizens who are here who don’t qualify to receive their $ 460 a month; that those who are 65 or older even though they live below poverty levels, they can receive it, ”he said.

He added that this is one of the many struggles that only guarantees statehood, but that while he continues to fight for this ideal, he cannot discriminate. “It doesn’t matter where in the nation you live in, if you are an American citizen, you should be entitled to these benefits and this service because we pay Social Security. This is the inequality that leads me to fight for full equality. “, he pointed out.

This inequality is evident as well, he said, in the Medicaid program, where Puerto Rico participates in 11 of the 17 programs they have, as well as under the “Child Tax Credit” that locally excludes families with one or two children.

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