They Didn’t Have Any Trouble Supplying Data For Immigration Enforcement

      From the New York Times:

A federal fund for those who became sick or died after being exposed to toxic dust from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been stymied in recent months by the Social Security Administration, which has not turned over key data required to resolve claims, according to lawyers, advocates and officials involved in the work.

The reason for the inaction is unclear. But since the start of President Trump’s second term, the administration has made sweeping cuts to the agency, leading to complaints from citizens that basic services are long-delayed or nonexistent. …

The people most affected “are the sickest of the sick, they are the most injured people who have these types of claims,” said Matthew McCauley, a lawyer who represents claimants to the fund, adding that many of his clients had been waiting a year to 18 months for the Social Security Administration to provide the information. “They also need that data to handle a death case.”

A spokesman for the Social Security Administration, Barton Mackey, said on Tuesday that the agency was taking “immediate action” to make sure it provided the necessary information. He said the agency would provide “all current requested earnings data” to the fund by Wednesday. …

To assess claims for economic compensation, the fund has relied for years on the Social Security Administration to provide data about the person’s past earnings. In recent months, however, claimants and their lawyers said the agency has stopped providing the information to the Justice Department, which manages the fund. …

Caseload Analysis Report

      The Social Security Administration has posted the Caseload Analysis Report for its Office of Hearings Operations (or whatever they’re calling it these days) run on June 17. It reflects trends already apparent — falling numbers of ALJs, increased backlogs, increased use of overtime and a small use of “Agency Video Objections” which make me fear that the hearing process may be used for immigration enforcement.

New Caseload Analysis Report

      The Social Security Administration has finally released its Caseload Analysis Report for its Office of Hearing Operations. It’s only through  March but it’s still good to have it again. I’d like to reproduce it here but there’s a  practical problem I won’t bore you with. You can just go to the link.

     There’s a couple of new things I notice. First, the total receipts at OHO are far higher than the dispositions. Perhaps related is the fact that OHO is getting a ton of overtime. Second, there’s a new line showing “Agency Video Objections.” It’s only a handful of cases. The only explanation that comes to my mind is that they’re forcing a few people who want phone or video hearings to show up in person so ICE can arrest them but maybe it’s something different altogether. I’d be interested to know.

Immigration Brutality At Social Security

      From Fox 4:

59-year-old Ramona Rakestraw said she has relied on Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, as her sole source of income while battling kidney disease and cancer. She tells FOX 4 that her payments stopped in October after she was told her immigration status was under review.

Rakestraw said she was born in 1966 at Parkland Hospital in Dallas [where JFK was taken after being shot] and has never lived outside Dallas County nor has she traveled outside the United States.

Kidney disease first sent Rakestraw to dialysis at age 28. 

She later received a transplant, but about 30 years later she returned to dialysis and received a cancer diagnosis in 2024.  …

Rakestraw said she took her identification and birth certificate to her local Social Security office in an effort to resolve the issue.

"That’s my income, my whole income," she said. …

Rakestraw said she has filed an appeal and completed the required paperwork. …

     And now the problem has been solved. It only took the involvement of a TV station. 

An Analysis Of The New Plan To Use SSA To Trap Inmigrants

       We face the prospect of noncitizens showing up for appointments at Social Security being arrested by ICE on their way into or out of the office because the agency has tipped off ICE. AltSSA, an anonymous Blue Sky account, has analyzed some of the legal aspects of what’s going to happen.

1/21 OK we are gonna start with this story. This is gonna be long and a little nuanced so stick with me. There will be a lot in here that will address SSA employees directly so if you know an SSA employee, please share with them! And if you see any errors or gaps in my knowledge, please let me know!

https://www.wired.com/story/social-security-administration-appointment-details-ice/

2/21 First it’s important to point out that allowing this type of data sharing is not technically new. It has been rare, specific, and approved individually. Also reminder here that if an immigrant has an SSN, they were documented and legal at the time the SSN was issued. We verify it with DHS.

3/21 A lot of appts are by phone, but certain appts require we verify ID and/or legal status at the appt, so these are done in person. This includes applying for an SSN for the first time, or a replacement card if not a citizen, or applying for benefits if you are an immigrant who can (ie refugees).

4/21 Side note that requiring immigrants already on benefits (mostly refugees who are disabled or elderly) to reverify legal status in person when doing their periodic redetermination, even if we know the document they have has an expiration date in the future, is a new policy and not coincidental.

5/21 This is likely because the regime is doing things like terminating Temporary Protected Status for countries like Haiti, which is, by definition, creating undocumented immigrants who were documented and legal until they changed that. Because they are garbage meat sacks masquerading as humans. 🤬🤬

6/21 Anyway. Let’s talk about current policy around sharing data with law enforcement/DHS. Like many of our policies, you can view this online (see link). This policy was last updated 4/2025 so by this regime. It details that such requests are supposed to be in writing and meet specific criteria.

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0203313095

7/21 The specific criteria can be found here (secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms....) and here (secure https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0203312080) and they are very specific. Each request is supposed to be approved individually by the Office of Privacy and Disclosure within the Office of the General Counsel at SSA.

8/21 Now they do mention one other policy that allows for ad hoc requests by LEOs (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0203312090....) which was updated in December 2025, but even that requires approval by the OPD and does not state an SSA employee can just give info to an ICE agent. It says the opposite actually.

9/21 So why did I do a policy deep dive? So it is crystal clear to everyone that this communication is being given verbally to specific offices only because they know this goes against our own policies and is almost certainly illegal on some level. This is not something we are allowed to do. Period. …

ICE Will Be Given SSA Appointment Info

       From Wired:

Workers at the Social Security Administration (SSA) have been told to share information about in-person appointments with agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), WIRED has learned.

“If ICE comes in and asks if someone has an upcoming appointment, we will let them know the date and time,” an employee with direct knowledge of the directive says. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. …

Noncitizens are also required to appear in-person to review continued eligibility of benefits. …

     ICE arresting people outside Social Security offices with help from Social Security is highly disturbing. 

I Don’t Like The Sound Of This

      From  new entry in Social Security’s operating manual, POMS:

We created a new POMS section titled, "Addressing Anomalous Electronic Annual Wage Reporting Activity" in response to an increase in irregularities observed in electronic wage reporting. …

SSA may delay processing or decline to process anomalous wage reports. When anomalies are detected that, in SSA's judgement, warrant investigation, SSA will suspend processing some or all electronic reports from the submitter and contact the submitter to initiate an investigation. …

SSA may also refer a matter to OIG for possible investigation. Technicians should report suspected cases of fraud to OIG via Allegation Referral Intake System (ARIS). …

     This may be nothing but it looks to me like the start of a new immigration enforcement mechanism, trying to find employers of immigrants and harassing them. That’s better than what ICE is doing in Minneapolis but it still involves Social Security in immigration enforcement which is not its mission.  

     By the way, as someone steeped in administrative law, I’m noticing a complete lack of due process, which is the sort of thing that could quickly shut this down.  You just can’t harass employers and their employees like this badly without giving them an opportunity to be heard by a neutral adjudicator.

You Can Almost Feel Sorry For Lee Dudek

     Here are some interesting messages from the Secretary of Homeland Security to then Acting Commissioner of Social Security Leland Dudek back in April. Note the stern, commanding tone of the messages. Note also the complete lack of legal underpinning for what is being demanded. These were posted by Social Security itself. By the way, Dudek, who apparently has a Twitter account, liked and retweeted my tweet about this. As always, click on the images below to view full size.

 

Social Security Reinstating Immigrants Falsely Declared Dead

      From the Washington Post:

Immigrants falsely labeled dead by the Social Security Administration are showing up at field offices with documents proving they are alive, leading staff to reinstate nearly three dozen people over the past week, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.
The immigrants who have requested a reversal and been reinstated in Social Security databases include a Haitian asylum seeker and a minor child, the records show. Some immigrants have shown up with driver’s licenses and work permits to prove their legitimacy, the records show. Others have arrived bearing letters of notification that they received from their states declaring them dead. …

Records obtained by The Post show the immigrants listed as dead include a 13-year-old, a 14-year-old, two 16-year-olds and four 17-year-olds, as well as people in their 70s and one 83-year-old. Agency staff later checked some of the youngest individuals against data the agency uses to research criminal history and could find no evidence of crimes or law enforcement interactions, The Post reported. The records show 6,161 people were added to the file in early April at the request of DHS, along with an additional 102 a few days later. As of Friday, Social Security staff had restored 31 of these people to the rolls, declaring them living again, the records show. ..

     I wonder if DOGE or the White House knew about these reinstatements.

Waste Of Scarce Resources

      From  “Fact Sheet” issued by the White House yesterday:

Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum aimed at stopping illegal aliens and other ineligible people from obtaining Social Security Act benefits.

• The Memorandum directs the administration to ensure ineligible aliens are not receiving funds from Social Security Act programs.
  • This includes promulgating guidance and prioritizing enforcement actions against grantees or subgrantees that do not: verify eligibility, stop payments to deceased or ineligible payees, or otherwise prevent ineligible aliens from receiving funds.
• It expands the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) fraud prosecutor program to at least 50 U.S. Attorney Offices and establishes a Medicare and Medicaid fraud-prosecution program in 15 U.S. Attorney Offices.
• The Memorandum requires the SSA Inspector General to investigate earnings reports for individuals aged 100 or older with mismatched SSA records, to combat identity theft.
• It also directs the SSA to consider whether to reinstate the use of civil monetary penalties against individuals who engage in Social Security fraud, an effort that has been paused for several years.

PROTECTING TAXPAYER DOLLARS: President Trump believes that taxpayer-funded benefits should be provided only to eligible persons and must not encourage or reward illegal immigration to the United States.

• Policing Social Security Act fraud is critical because the Act contains not only traditional Social Security provided to older Americans, but also unemployment insurance, disability insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, TANF, and other programs.
• The surge in illegal immigration caused by the previous Administration is siphoning dollars and essential services from American citizens while state and local budgets grow increasingly strained.
  • Biden oversaw a sharp increase in the number of immigrants given Social Security Numbers (SSNs), with more than 2 million illegal aliens assigned SSNs in fiscal year 2024 alone.
• The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) calculated that American taxpayers spend at least $182 billion annually to cover the costs incurred by the presence of 20 million illegal aliens and their children, which includes $66.4 billion in Federal expenses plus an additional $115.6 billion in state and local expenses.
  • FAIR estimated that nearly a million illegal aliens hold stolen identifications or fraudulent SSNs.
  • Although some illegal aliens do pay taxes, those tax contributions come nowhere near covering the costs they impose on the populace; FAIR estimates illegal aliens are still a $150.7 billion net fiscal burden.
• The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Biden Administration’s open borders agenda, which sought to provide Medicaid-funded emergency services to illegal aliens, has cost Federal and state taxpayers more than $16.2 billion. Joe Biden also tried to make illegal aliens eligible for Obamacare until he was stopped in a lawsuit. 

Social Security Halts No-Match Letters

     A press release:

Today, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA), Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B. Larson (D-CT), and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement regarding Social Security Administration (SSA)’s decision to halt sending “no-match” letters, also known as Educational Correspondence (EDCOR) notices:

“We welcome SSA’s announcement that it will stop the harmful practice of sending no-match letters to employers with certain discrepancies in their W-2 records. Two years ago, we strongly condemned SSA’s decision to send these letters out in the first place because they disproportionately imperil immigrants and threaten workers’ privacy. No-match letters have been shown to be wholly ineffective in correcting wage records and are not a cost-effective use of SSA’s limited resources. Today, we reiterate that the agency is prohibited by law from using its funds for any purpose other than administering Social Security, such as immigration enforcement. While we are glad to see SSA finally do the right thing and stop sending these letters, it is unfortunate that SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul chose to send these harmful letters for two years, inflicting significant harm on many affected workers.”

In June 2019, Chairmen Neal and Larson, along with former Oversight Subcommittee Chairman, the late John Lewis (D-GA), sent a letter to Commissioner Saul opposing SSA’s decision to restart sending no-match letters. Specifically, the members cited their concerns that the letters may lead to the firing of U.S. citizens and work-authorized immigrants, that they may result in the unauthorized sharing of tax data, and that they were a poor use of SSA’s scarce resources. 

      You will notice the contrast drawn, implicitly, to the pious statements from Social Security that they were forbidden to help the IRS with stimulus checks until the IRS ponied up money for the costs of producing the lists of those eligible because the funds appropriated for Social Security could only be used for administering Social Security and not helping with stimulus payments. However, when the Trump Administration asked for Social Security's help with immigration enforcement, Social Security apparently saw no such obstacle.

     It's past time for the House Ways and Means Committee, the whole Committee, to hold an oversight hearing and force Andrew Saul to answer questions under oath.

Congressional Opposition To No-Match Letters

     From a press release:

Today, Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA), Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B. Larson (D-CT), and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman John Lewis (D-GA) sent a letter to Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Andrew M. Saul stating their opposition to SSA’s resumption of sending “no-match” letters. Specifically, the members cite their concerns that the letters may lead to the firing of U.S. citizens and work-authorized immigrants, that they may result in the unauthorized sharing of tax data, and that they are a poor use of SSA’s scarce resources. 

SSA started sending these no-match letters (also known as Educational Correspondence (EDCOR) and Employer Correction Request letters) earlier this year to employers who have a W-2 employee name or Social Security number that does not match SSA’s records. This discrepancy may occur for a variety of reasons, including typographical errors, misspellings of complex names, name changes due to marriage or divorce, or with respect to undocumented workers. 

SSA had not sent these letters for years because they have been shown to be wholly ineffective in correcting wage records and not a cost-effective use of the agency’s limited resources. Moreover, SSA is prohibited by law from using its funds for any purpose other than administering Social Security, such as immigration enforcement. ...

Resumption Of No Match Letters

     From the New York Times:

The Trump administration is notifying tens of thousands of employers that the names of some of their employees do not match their Social Security numbers, a move that is forcing businesses across the country to brace for the loss of thousands of workers who lack legal status.

The Social Security Administration has mailed “no-match letters” to more than 570,000 employers since March, sending shock waves through the hospitality, construction and agriculture industries, which rely heavily on undocumented workers. The letters have left many employers conflicted, uncertain whether to take action that could result in losing workers or to risk fines down the road. ...

“There is a high level of anxiety over these no-match letters,’’ said Angelo Amador, regulatory counsel at the National Restaurant Association, which represents about one million food-service establishments. He said the association has been barraged with emails and phone calls from concerned companies. ...

The government officially suspended the use of no-match letters in 2012, although the practice had actually been discontinued years earlier, after the government faced litigation. The resumption appears to be a response to the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order signed by President Trump to protect American workers and reduce illegal immigration. ...

Mark Hinkle, the Social Security Administration’s acting press secretary, did not respond to a question about whether the administration was sharing its data with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. ...

No Match Letter Worries

     Fruit growers are starting to worry about "no match" letters from Social Security telling them that an employee's name and Social Security number don't match.

Return Of No Match Letters

     From National Public Radio:

The Social Security Administration may be the latest front in the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.  

 The agency is reviving the controversial practice of sending "no match" letters to businesses across the country, notifying them when an employee's Social Security number doesn't match up with official records.  

That may sound innocuous. But these no-match letters are expected to set off alarm bells. That's what happened when they arrived in the mail back in the mid-2000s. ...

There are a lot of reasons someone's Social Security number might not match: name changes or clerical errors, for example. But it can also mean that a worker is using a fake Social Security number. And when an employer gets one of these letters, it has to ask the worker to fix the problem. 

Labor unions and immigrant advocates took the issue to court in the mid-2000s. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce complained that the government was trying to turn businesses into "immigration cops." Eventually, the Obama administration stopped sending these letters in 2012. ...

Going After The Undocumented In Another Way

     From the Pacific Standard:

The Social Security Administration is planning to pore through wage and tax statements and notify employers when employee names and Social Security numbers are not identified in their records in what appears to be the Trump administration's latest push to target undocumented Americans in the workplace.  

The SSA announced in a recent post on its website that, in the spring of 2019, it would begin to send Employer Correction Request Notices to employers of people whose names and Social Security numbers do not match those in its system. ... 

Previous administrations have sent out such letters before, but were "temporarily halted during litigation and congressional inquiry because it was wrongfully used as a method of immigration enforcement that was found to hurt workers and employers alike, regardless of immigration status," says Sasha Feldstein, policy analyst at the California Immigrant Policy Center. 

"The resurgence of this policy after it was found to be wrongfully used and ineffective is just another example of the administration's attempt to exploit workers." ...