Trump Says Immigrants Were Removed From Social Security Rolls. Were They Receiving Checks?

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s claim that immigrants were removed from Social Security raises an immediate question: How were they on the rolls in the first place?

The number needs checking before it is repeated as fact. I could not verify a new statement of 125,000 or 150,000 people. In a documented May speech, Trump said his administration had removed “nearly 300,000 illegal aliens from the Social Security roll.” The administration has not publicly shown that nearly 300,000 people were receiving retirement or disability checks.

The distinction matters. Having a Social Security number or a record in the agency’s system does not mean someone receives benefits. The Social Security Administration says noncitizens generally can obtain a number when the Department of Homeland Security authorizes them to work. A person may have received a number while lawfully authorized to work and later had a change in immigration status. SSA also receives information about people removed from the country, including some who have or claim to have a Social Security number. None of those facts, by itself, shows a benefit payment was made.

SSA says lawfully present noncitizens can qualify for Social Security benefits if they meet the program’s other requirements. Its rules generally bar monthly retirement and disability payments to noncitizens for months when they are in the United States without lawful authorization. Fraud and identity theft can occur, and those cases should be investigated and prosecuted. But an agency record, an improperly used number and a fraudulent benefit check are three different findings.

Trump has directed federal agencies to strengthen eligibility checks and prevent ineligible people from receiving benefits under the Social Security Act. SSA says it is carrying out those measures. The public should now be given a breakdown of the claimed removals: How many involved numbers or records? How many people had once been authorized to work? How many were actually receiving payments they were not entitled to receive, and how much money was recovered?

Taxpayers deserve protection from fraud. They also deserve an exact accounting before a number on a government list is treated as proof that hundreds of thousands of people collected Social Security checks illegally.