Plan doesn’t help workers --- they’ll still be excluded and doesn’t solve poverty

[*164] However, simply expanding the reach of Totalization Agreements would not resolve this established practice of exclusion for a number of reasons. For one, undocumented workers would continue to be denied benefits, their significant contributions to the system notwithstanding. 84 Additionally, certain categories of legal temporary workers would continue to be barred from receiving Social Security benefits, for example those belonging to exempt visa categories, 85 and those from countries ineligible to receive Social Security benefits. 86

This deliberate exclusion is a profitable policy for the federal government. Temporary workers who pay Social Security taxes and then cannot withdraw benefits provide an annual buffer of several billion dollars to the beleaguered benefit program. 87 Although perhaps it is understandable that the U.S. is not jumping to extend benefits to these uncovered workers, this policy of denial contributes to the enduring cycle of poverty and deprivation that draws these workers to the U.S. in the first place. Not only does this lack of support create disincentives for return migration, it also infringes on migrants' right to social welfare protection, and denies migrants equal treatment under the law. 88 These incentive and rights-based concerns are discussed in detail in the following section.