April 7, 2025

Last week, headlines were sounding the alarm over a supposedly shocking revelation: millions of noncitizens were issued Social Security numbers under the Biden Administration! On Sunday March 30, DOGE worker Antonio Gracias joined Elon Musk on stage to share a chart with these astonishing findings.

Fox News reported on it as well as the following quotes:

“This literally blew us away,” Gracias said. “We went there to find fraud and we found this by accident.”

“This is a mind-blowing chart,” Musk added.

But here’s the thing: many noncitizens are legally entitled to obtain Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and have been lawfully doing so for decades. DOGE’s apparent misunderstanding is understandable, as a quick query on ChatGPT or one’s favorite AI tool might not have revealed this nuance of the system. However, I’d bet many “slackers” who worked at the Social Security Administration (SSA) could have revealed this bureaucratic truth.

Thus, this revelation did not involve mismanagement or fraud. In fact, considering all of the focus on the Biden’s Administration’s “open border” policies, high numbers of non-citizen SSN applicants from 2021 to 2024 would be quite expected among those of us endowed with knowledge of SSA issuance protocols.

Some critics might say this was just a “DUH-OGE moment” or those more critical might suggest it was a knowing effort at “fake news” designed to enflame the masses by making a kind of “chainsaw-sharp” political point. Me? I’ll just assume it was a misunderstanding. But I’ll also follow Ronald Reagan’s advice and take a “trust but verify” approach, at least when it comes to my government. So, please allow me to make this a DOGE learning opportunity as well as one for the American public .

The Maze of US Immigration Law

U.S. Immigration Law and the term “Noncitizen”

DOGE, I get it. The U.S. immigration system is complicated.  Multiple government agencies/departments are involved in immigration functions, of course those in DHS (ICE, CBP, USCIS) but also the Department of Labor, Department of State, and yes, SSA. The system is normally in a state of flux and confusion, but recent events have made immigration even more changeable. I can certainly understand how one might be confused.

Perhaps a primary source of confusion is the term noncitizen. To some, it might sound like “unauthorized immigrant,” but in U.S. immigration law, “noncitizen” simply means anyone who is not a U.S. citizen.

Noncitizens include many lawfully present persons, such as:
– Green card holders (lawful permanent residents, or LPRs)
– Professional/tech workers at major companies (like Tesla, with 1700+ beneficiaries approved for H-1B petitions in 2024)
– Tourists visiting Disney
– Students
– Individuals in the U.S. via humanitarian parole or Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

SS Card Sample from USCIS Website

Who Gets a Social Security Number?

According to the SSA (based upon Social Security law in conjunction with immigration law), there are several categories of employment authorized noncitizens eligible to receive Social Security numbers:

– Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) — green card holders
– Nonimmigrants with employment authorization, such as H-1B, L-1, E-2, F-1 (OPT), J-1
– Asylum applicants eligible for work authorization
– Beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
– Certain individuals paroled into the U.S. under humanitarian programs (like the 500,000+ Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNVs) admitted under the Biden Administration, whose status is being terminated by the current Administration.)

Relax, This is not Mind-blowing

Again, there’s no problem with certain noncitizens receiving SSNs.

There is no fraud in issuing SSNs to people who are lawfully present and legally authorized to work. In fact, it’s not just legal — it’s essential for a functioning tax and employment system.

And oh yeah, when the Social Security Card is issued to those with only time-limited employment authorization, the card will say on its front “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION”. This way, noncitizens cannot use the card to secure employment unless they are separately authorized by DHS. And as temporary workers, a lot of them will NOT qualify for old-age Social Security benefits unless they pay into the system for many years. (Note: “illegal immigrants” who work without authorization commonly pay into the SSA system but are generally not eligible to receive Social Security or Medicare benefits.)

Class Dismissed

DOGE, I sincerely hope this was helpful. Please consider this lesson as supportive of your leader’s commitment to “measure twice, or even thrice, and cut once” not just before eliminating jobs, but also before identifying supposed inefficiencies and fraud, and also when providing information to the public. Good luck! We are counting on you!