Q&A of the Day – How Can Illegal Immigrants Collect Social Security?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio What the...How are illegals on S.S.???!!! We’re told it’s not going to be able to pay out what we’ve worked our lives to earn and there are illegals on it? Please explain/expose this!
Bottom Line: I hear your frustration and understand. You’re most certainly not alone. This topic is a far from a new one as concerns about illegal immigrants siphoning funds from Social Security and Medicare have been an on again off again debate surrounding the illegal immigration issue for decades. However, with a record number of illegal immigrants within the United States, under the Biden administration – with the estimated population of illegal aliens having doubled during the previous four years – record abuse of the program is almost certainly taking place.
This issue began to gain additional attention as President Trump had this to say when asked if Elon Musk’s DOGE would impact Social Security. Social Security will not be touched, it will only be strengthened. That is with one exception. We have illegal immigrants on Social Security and we’re going to find out who they are and take them off… we’re not going to stand for that. Which, as an aside, is congruent thought process. As of last year’s reporting, by the Social Security Administration – the granddaddy of all entitlement programs - is at least at risk of becoming insolvent as early as 2033 for certain Social Security payouts – with 2035 the most likely timeline, on it’s current trajectory, for all payouts being impacted. So, about the role and impact of illegal immigrants on Social Security...
Let’s start with the straightforward answer to the question of if illegal immigrants are eligible to obtain Social Security benefits. No. Only legal residents are granted Social Security numbers which are required to obtain Social Security benefits. There’s also a straightforward answer as to if it happens. The answer is yes. However, in recent years, the number of non-citizens legally allowed into the program has expanded. According to the Social Security Administration these are the categories of non-citizens who may be eligible for Social Security payments:
- Lawfully admitted for permanent residence
- Granted conditional entry
- Paroled into the United States
- Admitted as a refugee
- Granted asylum
- An alien whose removal is being withheld
- A Cuban or Haitian Entrant
- Admitted as an Amerasian Immigrant
- Admitted as an Afghan or Iraqi Special Immigrant
- Admitted as an Afghan humanitarian parolee or Afghan Non-Special Immigrant Parolee
- Admitted as a Ukrainian humanitarian parolee.
Surprised? Probably. When you frequently heard about Presidents Obama and Biden providing Temporary Protected Status, increasing refugees from certain countries, etc. The implications often extended beyond the ability to simply avoid deportation. It was also a gateway to easy access to many federal government programs. Now, for the non-citizens to be Social Security eligible, they also would need to meet one other condition out of seven possibilities; for example, obtaining 40 credits for work in the United States or being a victim of human trafficking. Also, some non-citizens may be limited to collecting Social Security payments for a seven-year window.
I wanted to take the time to explain those important distinctions because much of what used to be illegal abuse of Social Security has been “legalized” by prior administrations. And therefore, what many of us might perceive to be illegal abuse by certain non-citizens may in fact be “legal”. With that said, Social Security fraud is prevalent and has rapidly grown in recent years.
With fraud we don’t know what we don’t know right? Hence the desired review of government payouts by team DOGE. But here’s what we do know based on the Social Security Administration's own estimates based on the most recent 4-year reporting period (which factors in the Biden Administration's first three years in office).
When President Trump left office the estimated annual fraudulent payouts out of Social Security stood at an estimated $3 billion. Three years later that estimate rose to $13.6 billion. That’s 453% increase in estimated Social Security fraud within three years (and again this is using the government’s own accounting of these things – I'd suspect the actual #’s are considerably higher. So does Elon Musk who said over the weekend that his initial review suggests fraud extends to over $100 billion in the entitlement programs per year.
Now, given that Social Security has been around for 90 years – what suddenly changed over the previous few years that would have led to such a remarkable jump in fraudulent payments? You can guess but I’ll provide some math. Over the same period unlawful entry into the United States rose by an estimated 484%. Those numbers line up nicely, don’t they? A 484% increase in illegal immigrants and a 453% increase in fraudulent Social Security payments.
This is illustrative of why it’s not only important to solve the illegal immigration crisis but to also have Musk’s DOGE do the job of identifying and eliminating fraud. Your future Social Security payouts may, in part, depend on it.