Illegal Aliens Present Problems For Social Security Administration

A Social Security Administration (SSA) official told Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) that illegal aliens who receive amnesty and work permits under President Obama’s executive amnesty will soon also be able to collect Social Security benefits. The SSA official was responding to a letter sent to the agency by Sen. Johnson on the topic.

The letter, written by SSA’s chief actuary Stephen Goss, indicated that an additional 16,000 people will begin collecting Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) benefits come 2017, and that the number of beneficiaries would continue to increase for 40 years thereafter, topping out at 695,000 people. Mr. Gross’ projections, however, are considerably conservative as they are based on the assumption that less than 50,000 illegal aliens will cross the border each year starting in 2016.

According to the National Review Online, the SSA is proceeding as if nothing has changed in the wake of a federal judge’s injunction against Pres. Obama’s November 2014 executive actions. Goss expects 58,000 new workers will be covered under the OASDI program later this year, although they will not be eligible to collect benefits immediately.

This comes on the heels of an Inspector General report that found that there are 6.5 million active Social Security numbers, according to SSA’s own records, for individuals who exceed 112 years of age and are likely deceased. The report also found that thousands of those numbers have been used presumably by illegal aliens in order to get jobs.

“During Calendar Years 2008 through 2011, SSA received 4,024 E-Verify inquiries using the SSNs of 3,873 number-holders born before June 16, 1901,” the report said. “These inquiries indicate individuals’ attempts to use the SSNs to apply for work.”

Sen. Johnson released the following statement on the IG report:

It is incredible that the Social Security Administration in 2015 does not have the technical sophistication to ensure that people they know to be deceased are actually noted as dead. Tens of thousands of these numbers are currently being used to report wages to the Social Security Administration and to the IRS. People are fraudulently, but successfully, applying for jobs and benefits with these numbers. Making sure Social Security cleans up its death master file to prevent future errors and fraud is a good government reform we can all agree on.