Many Americans can't afford to retire. It's even harder for undocumented migrants

Gualberta Dominguez sent tens of thousands of dollars she earned in the U.S. back to Mexico over the years Now 73, she's scraping by, collecting cans to sell to recycling businesses.

If Maria del Carmen Díaz, 69, and Jose Carlos Silva, 67, had the retirement of their dreams, they'd own a house somewhere in the California desert. They would have a backyard where their eight grandchildren could play. Afternoons would be spent relaxing, Díaz knitting while her husband strummed guitar.

Instead, the couple rents a cramped back house in Pasadena, with little prospect that they will ever be able to stop working. Díaz cleans homes. Silva paints houses and landscapes yards. They get by on donations from a local food bank and help from their kids.

Many of their American-born peers are retiring. But Díaz and Silva have long been in the country without documentation. They never made enough money to save, and due to their immigration status they can't receive Social Security benefits.

"If you don't have papers, you can't stop; you have to keep working," said Silva, who crossed the border in 1994, fleeing an economic crisis in Mexico.

In a recent national survey of 1,572 seniors from Mexico, 27% reported sometimes cutting back on meals because they couldn't afford food. Fewer than 4% said they had pensions, and just 3% said they expected to have enough money to cover their basic expenses during retirement.

Some 70% are still working -- compared with 19% of U.S. senior citizens.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-11-01/undocumented-immigrants-aging-social-security