How much Social Security benefits do undocumented immigrants and their families receive?
Executive summary
Undocumented immigrants as a group are generally not eligible to receive Social Security retirement or disability benefits because eligibility requires lawful presence and a valid Social Security number, though narrow exceptions and rare improper payments exist [1] [2] [3]. At the same time, research and government estimates show that undocumented workers contribute substantially to the Social Security system and that, in aggregate, their payroll tax contributions have historically exceeded the benefits paid to them or their families [4] [5] [6].
1. The legal wall between unauthorized status and benefit entitlement
Federal law bars payment of Social Security benefits to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States except in narrowly defined circumstances, a prohibition stemming from PRWORA and later statutory additions; Social Security rules therefore require legal authorization to work and a valid SSN to qualify for standard benefits [1] [7] [2]. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a separate, means-tested program with its own noncitizen eligibility rules that historically limited payments to lawful permanent residents and other eligible immigration categories, further constraining benefits available to undocumented people and their families [7] [8] [9].
2. Contributions without commensurate claims: the empirical balance
Multiple analyses and SSA materials find that many undocumented workers nevertheless pay payroll taxes—using ITINs, false SSNs, or employer withholding—and that these payments often flow into the Social Security trust funds without producing corresponding benefit claims because undocumented workers typically cannot claim benefits under current law [3] [2] [6]. The SSA estimated that taxes paid in by undocumented immigrants exceeded benefits paid out by about $12 billion in 2007, and advocacy and research groups put later-year contributions into the tens of billions (for example, a 2023 estimate that undocumented immigrants paid roughly $26.2 billion into the Trust Fund and $89.8 billion in combined taxes in 2023) — evidence that on net they are net contributors rather than net beneficiaries [4] [5].
3. When undocumented-associated earnings do lead to benefits
A small number of undocumented individuals do receive Social Security benefits in practice: some use Social Security numbers that belong to others, retain a valid SSN from a prior authorized stay, or later legalize their status and then claim benefits based on recorded earnings, meaning a handful of benefits paid may be tied to earlier undocumented work or mismatched identifiers [3] [2]. Brookings analysis warns that most Social Security–covered earnings attributed to undocumented workers will never translate into increased claims, underscoring that any benefits tied to those contributions are the exception rather than the rule [6].
4. Aggregate picture and policy context — who gains and who pays
At the system level, researchers and SSA actuarial notes highlight that immigrant earnings—documented and undocumented—augment Social Security finances and that immigrants often pay into the system at rates that offset or exceed what the system pays them out, producing modest net fiscal support for the Trust Fund [10] [4]. Policy debates therefore split: one side emphasizes illegal eligibility and occasional improper payments as reasons to tighten rules [1], while the other stresses that undocumented workers substantively bolster Social Security financing and that deporting or excluding them would worsen solvency pressures [5].
5. Limits of available evidence and continuing unknowns
Available government and academic sources provide strong evidence that undocumented workers largely do not receive routine Social Security benefits and that their payroll contributions exceed benefits received at the macro level, but they do not produce a precise, contemporaneous dollar figure for “benefits received by undocumented immigrants and their families” because definitions, improper payments, later legalization, and household-level interactions (e.g., U.S.-citizen children in mixed-status households) complicate measurement; therefore precise, up-to-date totals for benefits paid specifically to undocumented individuals or their families are not fully specified in the cited sources [4] [3] [6].