What official reports or FOIA releases provide data on 2025 removals from Social Security for immigration status reasons?
Executive summary — what the documents show and what they don’t
The official trail for data on Social Security “removals” tied to immigration status in 2025 runs through FOIA channels at the Social Security Administration and operational immigration statistics published by DHS/ICE, but the documents and portals in the provided reporting do not surface a single, public SSA dataset explicitly labeled “2025 removals from Social Security for immigration status reasons” [1] [2] [3]. The practical reality, based on the sources, is that researchers must rely on SSA FOIA mechanisms and related DHS/ICE operational releases, and may need targeted FOIA requests to SSA, DHS components and immigration courts to assemble the piece‑work of who lost benefits and why [1] [4] [3].
1. The primary official access point: SSA’s FOIA program and reports
The Social Security Administration publicly documents how to request records under FOIA and maintains a “Reports” page meant for FOIA data and proactive disclosures, making SSA FOIA the first port of call for any records about beneficiary terminations tied to immigration status [1]. The SSA FOIA page explains that FOIA does not require release of records already publicly available and that agencies need not disclose all records, which frames why a researcher may have to submit a specific FOIA to obtain case‑level or programmatic removals data not already posted [1].
2. Operational immigration data that could be cross‑referenced: DHS and ICE releases
DHS’s Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS) publishes monthly immigration enforcement tables and identifies ICE operational feeds as source data — these DHS/ICE operational releases document removals from the United States by citizenship and are updated monthly as of January 2025, and can be used to infer enforcement pressure that may lead to benefit actions [3]. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations publishes dashboards with quarterly updates on arrests, detentions and removals through December 31, 2024, and continues to be the authoritative operational ledger of deportations and returns that researchers will need to cross‑match with SSA records where possible [2].
3. Policy signals and rulemaking that may trigger administrative Social Security actions
Federal Register activity in 2025 shows executive and regulatory moves focused on preventing ineligible noncitizens from receiving Social Security Act benefits — a 2025 Federal Register notice tied to Executive Order 14218 directs interagency efforts and fraud‑prosecutor programs around benefits integrity, indicating an administrative policy environment that could increase benefit revocations or eligibility reviews [5]. Such rulemaking does not itself provide datasets of removals, but it identifies an institutional impetus that FOIA requesters should mention when seeking records showing actions taken by SSA in 2025 [5].
4. Practical FOIA targets and known disclosure problems to anticipate
Given agency responsibilities, practical FOIA targets include the SSA FOIA office for benefit termination records, DHS components (ICE/ERO, USCIS) for enforcement and immigration status data, and EOIR for court records relating to removals — the Justice EOIR FOIA page and DHS FOIA guidance explain how to submit requests, and DHS processes FOIA requests on a first‑in, first‑out basis [6] [7]. Requesters should be aware of documented FOIA processing problems at USCIS — a whistleblower alleged mass closures and restrictive processing of A‑file requests in 2025, which suggests FOIA returns from immigration agencies may be incomplete or delayed and could obscure cross‑agency tracing of Social Security actions tied to immigration status [8].
5. Conclusion and recommended next steps for researchers
No single, public SSA dataset explicitly titled “2025 Social Security removals for immigration status” appears in the provided reporting; instead, the evidence shows the avenue is a combination of SSA FOIA requests and triangulation with DHS/ICE enforcement statistics and Federal Register policy records [1] [2] [5] [3]. The most direct approach is a narrowly scoped FOIA to SSA requesting records of beneficiary terminations or suspensions in 2025 where immigration status was the documented basis, paired with DHS/ICE removal tables and, if needed, FOIA requests to USCIS/EOIR for underlying immigration case records — while budgeting time for possible USCIS processing problems flagged by whistleblower reporting [1] [2] [3] [8].