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Has the Social Security Administration issued SSNs to undocumented immigrants and when?
Executive Summary
The Social Security Administration (SSA) issues Social Security numbers (SSNs) to certain noncitizens when they are lawfully authorized to work or when they need an SSN for specific nonwork purposes; undocumented immigrants without DHS work authorization generally are not eligible for work-authorized SSNs but can—under defined exceptions—receive non-work SSNs. Recent reporting indicates a sharp rise in SSNs issued to noncitizens in 2024 tied to work authorization programs and asylum-related work permits, representing the highest annual total on record [1] [2].
1. What claimers said — “Big surge under Biden” and the raw numbers that drove headlines
A recent article reported that over 2 million SSNs were issued to noncitizens in 2024, the largest single-year total in U.S. history, and that the annual count rose from roughly 270,000 in 2021 to 2.1 million in 2024, a figure repeated in social posts and public statements [1]. That reporting tied the increase to automated DHS/SSA enumeration programs and to a real surge in work-authorized immigrants and asylum applicants becoming eligible to work, framing the spike as a materially different pattern compared with historical levels that were typically in the hundreds of thousands annually, with prior peaks tied to legalization programs [1]. These are counts of SSNs issued to noncitizens, not an assertion that those numbers were all undocumented or unlawfully present.
2. What SSA and policy documents say — eligibility rules and the carve-outs
SSA policy and Congressional Research Service analysis make clear that SSNs are issued to noncitizens who are lawfully admitted for permanent residence or who are authorized by DHS to work; SSA also issues cards for non-work reasons when required by federal or state law, and those cards are labeled accordingly [3]. SSA issues three card types—unrestricted, work-authorized (marked “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION”), and non-work (marked “NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT”)—and noncitizens without work authorization may be assigned SSNs for valid nonwork reasons such as receiving certain public benefits, following established documentary requirements [3] [4]. Eligibility hinges on DHS authorization or a statutory nonwork need, not simply physical presence.
3. The 2024 spike — program mechanics and what those numbers represent
The reported 2024 surge reflects automated enumeration processes between DHS and SSA and a rise in individuals who became eligible for employment authorization, including many asylum applicants who secured work permits, rather than a wholesale policy change issuing SSNs to undocumented people [1]. Historical context in the reporting shows past upticks during amnesty or legalization programs and downturns during restrictive periods; the 2024 increase is characterized as a faster pace of SSN issuance to work-authorized noncitizens than prior peaks [1]. The distinction between administration of work-authorized SSNs and the presence of unauthorized immigrants remains central to interpreting the numeric jump.
4. Integrity checks, audits, and documented errors — what the SSA review found
A September 2023 SSA audit of Enumeration at Entry and Enumeration Beyond Entry processes found SSA correctly processed and assigned SSNs to roughly 587,000 noncitizens in 2021 (99.8 percent) but also identified errors where technicians improperly issued multiple SSNs to a small number [5] [6] of noncitizens, attributing those mistakes to procedural lapses and recommending policy and control changes [7]. SSA agreed with some recommendations while citing existing integrity checks for others; the audit indicates robust overall compliance but acknowledges limited errors and opportunities for tighter cross-referencing. This demonstrates that while systems largely work, administrative mistakes can create anomalous records.
5. Competing narratives and common sources of confusion — labels, nonwork SSNs, and misstatements
Public confusion often arises because an SSA-issued SSN does not uniformly confer employment authorization; cards differ by status and are explicitly labeled to indicate work eligibility or its absence, but that nuance is frequently lost in public statements [8] [4]. Some claims conflate counts of SSNs issued to “noncitizens” with issuance to “undocumented immigrants,” ignoring that many recipients were lawfully present or had DHS work authorization at issuance [1] [3]. Policy guides and state letters dating to the early 2000s show SSA has long allowed SSNs for nonwork reasons in narrow circumstances, which further complicates headline-ready interpretations [9] [4].
6. Bottom line and unresolved data points that matter
The verified facts are: SSA issues SSNs to lawfully present, work-authorized noncitizens and may issue SSNs for certain nonwork statutory purposes to non-work-authorized noncitizens; a reported 2024 spike to ~2.1 million SSNs for noncitizens reflects enumeration through DHS/SSA systems and increased work authorization, not a blanket issuance to undocumented populations [1] [3] [2]. Key unresolved questions remain about the precise immigration status breakdown of those 2.1 million (e.g., lawful permanent residents, asylum applicants with work permits, temporary workers, nonwork beneficiaries) and how many non-work SSNs were included; answering those requires disaggregated DHS/SSA data not provided in the cited reporting [1] [3] [7].