Originally Authored at TheFederalist.com
When Elon Musk and his DOGE colleague Antonio Gracias showed a Wisconsin audience how non-citizens get Social Security Numbers (SSNs), their presentation painted the clearest picture yet of the long-term damage former President Joe Biden’s open border policy will have on the United States.
Standing in front of a huge chart, they showed how the number of SSNs issued to new non-citizens spiked in 2024.
The total SSNs issued in 2021 was roughly 270,000; in 2022 it climbed to 590,000, and in 2023, there were 964,000 SSNs issued to new non-citizens. But in 2024 it more than doubled to over 2 million. This counts only non-citizens who got their SSNs through the Enumeration Beyond Entry program, a system where the Social Security Administration automatically issues SSNs and cards to certain foreign nationals in the U.S., as part of an agreement with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Gracias explained the ease with which illegal aliens transformed into Social-Security-card-carrying beneficiaries of America’s generosity under Biden. One way was for aliens to enter the U.S. and tell authorities they are afraid for their safety. They are interviewed and given an asylum case.
Or they entered the U.S. and simply walked up to a border patrol officer to say they wanted to stay. The illegal alien would be charged with a minor administrative offense, like a parking ticket, then they were released with a notice to appear before a judge. The average wait to see an immigration judge was six years, Gracias said, because there are only around 700 immigration judges and around 5.5 million people waiting for a hearing.
“Once you’re in the country and you’ve got asylum through one of these pathways … you can apply for a work document. You file an I-765, it’s the work authorization form.” The I-765 asks if you have a SSN, or if you would like to be issued a SSN and a Social Security card. Mail in the I-765 and soon you receive a 766 card — also called a work authorization card — to put in your wallet.
“The Social Security Administration automatically sends you, in the mail, your Social Security Number. No interview. No ID,” Gracias told the Wisconsin crowd.
Another way non-citizens get a SSN is by entering the U.S. legally and applying for a Green Card.
The statistics Musk and Gracias highlighted include Green Card holders too, Art Arthur, the Resident Fellow in Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Federalist.
“That’s perfectly acceptable. We want Green Card holders to have Social Security Numbers, because they can get Social Security and Medicare and we want them paying taxes,” Arthur said, noting that the spike in statistics for 2023 and 2024 were an anomaly.
“That big bump that you’re seeing there? I can’t tell you how large a proportion, but a pretty large proportion, are people who really shouldn’t be in the United States but who, because of the way that they entered, and the way that the Biden administration treated them, are now eligible for Social Security Numbers.”
Once non-citizens living in the United States have a SSN, the opportunities to commit fraud become clear. Fraud can’t be ignored because every person who failed to use legal means to enter the U.S. started their relationship with this country through a fraudulent border crossing.
Here are five ways the massive influx of non-citizens benefit once they have a Social Security Number, often at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.
Get a High-Paying Job
With a work authorization card in their wallet, non-citizens can find legitimate work. Work at higher wages is the main reason people come to the U.S., according to Arthur.
“Between Central America and the United States, for the lowest level of minimum wage worker, the differential is about 10 to one. Between the United States and Mexico, it’s about eight to one. So, for every one hour that you work in the United States, you make the same amount of money you would work in a full day in Mexico, or a day and two hours in Guatemala,” Arthur said. “If you were to tell me that I could easily and safely sneak into Saudi Arabia and paint houses for $2 million a year, I’d probably do it, or at least, give it a thought.”
Collect Social Security Benefits
Let’s say you are an American who started working at 16 and retired at 67. You’ve been paying into Social Security with every paycheck for 51 years. Non-citizens can draw Social Security after working 40 quarters — that is 10 years.
“Even if you’re here unlawfully, so long as you work for 40 quarters, which is 10 years, you’re eligible for Social Security benefits,” Arthur said.
It means millions of people will get full benefits without contributing decades of income to the fund. You don’t have to be a math whiz to know that is not sustainable.
While critics complain Musk is gutting Social Security, it is the consequences of Biden’s open border that will painfully damage the fund in the coming years.
But it has been clear for years that Social Security needs DOGE-level scrutiny. Mark Hemingway and Ben Weingarten wrote for RealClear Investigations in 2022 that with the swelling numbers of illegal immigrants, “federal authorities have found that well over 1 million are using Social Security numbers belonging to someone else – i.e. stolen or ‘shared’ with a relative or acquaintance – or numbers that are fabricated.”
Social Security Numbers are Forever
Social Security Numbers don’t expire; once a non-citizen has one, they keep it, no matter where life takes them.
“You now have a population of a million or more who have valid Social Security Numbers, who will be able to work, albeit illegally, in the United States forever,” Arthur said. “Even if Trump took away all of their statuses tomorrow and all their work authorization, they could still work because an employer can’t ask to look at your employment authorization document. The employer can only ask for certain documents, and the two most common are driver’s licenses and Social Security cards.”
A non-citizen who is not supposed to be in the U.S. but has a SSN that was legitimately issued to them can keep working and paying their living expenses, making it harder to identify them as an illegally present alien.
Benefits For Babies
President Donald Trump aims to end birthright citizenship. Under Biden and for years before his term, babies born on U.S. soil to illegally present parents have been granted citizenship, and the SNAP food benefits, free healthcare, free education, and other free services that go to citizens in need (and in some cases non-citizens from certain countries and circumstances.)
Non-citizens making decent money because they have obtained a SSN often bring families.
While a parent who entered the U.S. illegally may not end up becoming a citizen, when their children are automatically born citizens, it multiplies the burden on social services and gives non-citizen parents more reason to stay in the U.S.
Vote
Only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections. But a Social Security Number provides the opportunity for fraud. Many states let voters register via mail by providing either a driver’s license number or a the last four digits of their SSN. A non-citizen could use their SSN to register, then vote absentee. County election workers who check the SSN against the database of numbers would find the number valid, with no clue it is a non-citizen.
Even if aliens are returned to their home country, that SSN is forever. Through the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) Many states allow voters who are out of the country to cast a ballot from anywhere in the world.
The Federalist has reported extensively about non-citizens who voted in U.S. elections, and the Democrats who want to make non-citizen voting the law. Incredibly, as Brianna Lyman reported, in California, a SSN is not needed; a gym membership will get you the right to vote.
In 2020, conservatives were censored for asking questions about non-citizens illegally voting in the U.S. election. Social Security Numbers for non-citizens is a clear path for voter fraud that requires more investigation.
Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.