The Social Security Administration (SSA) is currently doing the most extensive cleanup of its data in its almost one century of existence, the Trump administration confirmed to Fox News.
There are many reasons why the SSA can be problematic, including the fact that it is unconstitutional, but it seems that the Trump administration, in this case, is trying to prevent potential defrauding of taxpayers and/or election fraud. Based on the information the SSA gave to Fox News, there was a huge problem with the government not accurately noting when people died or what their citizenship status was, meaning that some illegal aliens were obtaining benefits and potentially registering to vote using Social Security numbers (SSNs).
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin received and published a statement from SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano:
BREAKING: The Social Security Administration confirms to @FoxNews that it has just undertaken its largest cleanup of Social Security Numbers in the agency's 91-year history, correcting nearly 15% of all U.S. citizen SSNs (roughly 50 million out of 330 million). The changes include: - Adding 17 million dates of death to files that previously didn't have them w/ help from State Dept. - With help from DHS, updating 25 million files that had missing citizenship information. - Correcting an additional 8.5 million records with inaccurate citizenship data. SSNs are referenced by agencies across the federal government and in states to validate identities and prevent improper payment of tax dollars. SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION STATEMENT TO FOX:
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 20, 2026
Related: Trump Warns Americans That the Midterm Election Could Bring France’s Nightmare Here
Melugin highlighted the primary reforms that the SSA is implementing:
- Adding 17 million dates of death to files that previously didn't have them w/ help from State Dept.
- With help from DHS, updating 25 million files that had missing citizenship information.
- Correcting an additional 8.5 million records with inaccurate citizenship data.
As Melugin acknowledged, multiple agencies use SSNs to verify the identities of individuals and prevent the payout of taxpayer dollars to the wrong people.
Some noncitizens receive SSNs legitimately if the Department of Homeland Security clears them for certain jobs in the United States. In these cases, the government might consider the noncitizens to be eligible for Social Security benefits and other federal services. (Frankly, I think is ridiculous, but it is legal.) The problem is that, particularly in Democrat states, there has been enough negligence or outright Democrat complicity that many illegal aliens and ineligible noncitizens obtained SSNs.
As President Donald Trump pointed out during the first 2024 presidential debate that ended Joe Biden‘s political career, the Biden administration was allowing redirected Social Security benefits to illegal aliens. Trump later took action to end this fraud after coming into office last year.
Vice President JD Vance referred to the Democrat subterfuge allowing illicit access to the SSA:
.@VP: "If you are encouraging illegal aliens to sign up for Social Security and steal Social Security benefits, you're not protecting Social Security, you're destroying it — so cut that shit out and be honest about your intentions." 💯 https://t.co/bcxB1PTf6X
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 29, 2026
Additionally, some states allow people to register to vote using their SSNs — another reason why reform is so crucial.