President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum this week aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from accessing Social Security benefits, marking a renewed push to enforce federal benefit restrictions and address the financial strain associated with unlawful immigration.
The memorandum, outlined in a White House fact sheet, directs federal agencies to identify and eliminate unauthorized payments from Social Security programs to non-citizens.
The administration stated the move is designed to remove financial incentives for illegal immigration and reinforce the principle that only legal American citizens should qualify for government benefits.
According to the administration, over 2 million illegal immigrants were issued Social Security numbers during fiscal year 2024 under President Joe Biden’s policies. Officials claim these actions diverted essential taxpayer-funded resources from American citizens, a practice the Trump administration seeks to halt.
The directive instructs federal agencies to immediately prioritize enforcement against grantees and sub-grantees that fail to verify recipient eligibility. It also includes mandates to stop payments to deceased or otherwise ineligible individuals, and to increase oversight of potential fraud cases.
As part of the memorandum, the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration is ordered to investigate suspicious earnings reports, specifically those linked to individuals over 100 years old or with mismatched records—an effort to combat widespread identity theft and fraudulent filings.
In addition, Trump is expanding the Social Security Administration’s fraud prosecutor initiative. The program will now operate in 50 or more U.S. Attorney’s offices nationwide. A new Medicaid fraud-prosecution unit will also be established in 15 offices to further target abuse within public assistance systems.
The administration reported that it has already blocked more than 1,000 individuals with criminal records or terrorist ties from receiving Social Security benefits.
Further, as part of its enforcement campaign, the administration launched the CBP Home app, which provides an option for illegal immigrants to voluntarily return to their countries of origin.