Jimmy Klass, a 66-year-old Florida man, discovered that he was not a US citizen when he applied for Social Security payments. Despite living in America since childhood and participating in multiple federal elections, he found out about his citizenship status unexpectedly.
In 2020, Klass anticipated receiving a letter from the Social Security Administration informing him about his benefits. Instead, he received a notification that his benefits were frozen due to his inability to prove his legal presence in the country.
Despite having German paternal grandparents and a Canadian mother, Klass was confident in his US citizenship due to his father being a natural-born American. He arrived in the US during the 1960s when he was just 2 years old.
Klass explained that his father’s origins were in Brooklyn, New York. However, when he was just two years old, the family relocated to Tennessee Avenue in Long Island, right next door to Klass’s grandparents.
Despite undergoing rigorous background checks for eligibility to join the Marine Corps and becoming a police officer, Klass’s citizenship status never raised any concerns.
“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.
“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.
Despite having voted in multiple elections, Klass remains unapprehended. He humorously remarked, ‘Nobody has shown up at my door to arrest me yet.’ However, he acknowledged that technically, voting while being undocumented could result in federal charges.
Klass finds himself in a situation where he must defend his status with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). To substantiate his claim of being a long-standing citizen, he has submitted various documents. Despite seeking assistance from the Canadian consulate in Miami, he remains without a solution.
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