Elon Musk, a tech billionaire, says that more than two million people who came to the U.S. illegally in 2024 were given Social Security numbers and then used them to get benefits they were not supposed to get.
Musk showed information from the Enumeration Beyond Entry (EBE) program of the Social Security Administration at a town hall meeting in Wisconsin. The data showed that in fiscal year 2024, nearly 2.1 million migrants were given Social Security numbers.
From 590,000 in 2022 to 964,000 in 2023, this was a big jump. The Trump administration says that there are about 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. right now.
Musk and venture capitalist Antonio Gracias, who are both looking into the SSA with the Department of Government Efficiency, said that giving out Social Security numbers was a sign that the agency was cheating people.
How Migrants Obtain Social Security Numbers?
The SSA says that people who are not citizens of the United States must first get permission from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to work in the country.
To get Supplemental Security Income, you need to meet certain criteria, like having legal permanent residency, asylum, or refugee status.
Gracias, on the other hand, said that after getting work permits, many migrants were given Social Security numbers without being questioned or having their identities checked.
The EBE program, which started in 2017 while Donald Trump was president, was meant to make it easier for eligible migrants to get Social Security numbers.
A 2019 report from the SSA’s inspector general said that Homeland Security was in charge of making sure that applicants were legal before giving them numbers.
NewsNation asked the SSA for a comment on Musk’s claims, but they did not respond.
Musk Alleges Biden’s Policy is a ‘Massive’ Political Strategy
Musk said the Biden administration was trying to change the political scene by increasing the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. through the distribution of Social Security numbers. He said the goal was to make the Democratic majority last forever.
Gracias also said that immigrants who had Social Security numbers were getting the most benefits and using them to sign up to vote. Musk had said in the past that Social Security benefits were being given to millions of people who had died.
The Washington Post cited a government audit from 2023 that found that the SSA processed applications for noncitizens correctly 99.8% of the time, even though the number of people getting Social Security numbers was going up.
Migrants’ Contributions to Social Security
A 2024 analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found that migrants contributed $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022.
Migrants with work permits paid $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes and $6.4 billion in Medicare taxes, despite being ineligible for most federal benefits.
The report also suggested that expanding work authorization to all migrants could increase tax contributions from $40.2 billion to $136.9 billion annually, with over $33 billion benefiting the federal government.
As Donald Trump campaigns on halting illegal immigration, the debate over Social Security benefits for migrants remains a major political issue.