How many illegal immigrants have been removed from social security rolls in 2025?

1. What the White House announced: a 275,000 figure and policy memos

The White House fact sheet and presidential memorandum from April 15, 2025, frame an initiative to “prevent[] illegal aliens from obtaining Social Security Act benefits” and say the administration is acting to remove incentives for unlawful presence, with public statements claiming roughly 275,000 people were taken off Social Security rolls ^{[1] [3]}. The White House materials tie this effort to Executive Order 14218 and to expanded audits, referrals and enforcement steps aimed at ineligible beneficiaries ^[3].

2. What the Social Security Administration said — no confirmation of the specific count

The Social Security Administration posted a public statement expressing support for the memorandum but the SSA press material “does not mention, confirm or deny” the White House’s claim that 275,000 illegal immigrants were removed from the Social Security system ^[2]. In other words, the agency acknowledged the policy but did not supply or verify the headline numerical claim in the sources you provided ^[2].

3. Independent and press reporting: assertions, context, and skepticism

Major press coverage in the provided results documents reporting on the administration’s tactics — including plans to make some Social Security numbers inoperable or to use death-master lists to pressure migrants — and notes the administration’s stated goal of encouraging self-deportation by revoking access to benefits and financial services ^[4]. Later coverage and analysis pieces flagged the 275,000 figure as a repeated claim and questioned its basis; one outlet reported the administration and SSA “repeatedly recited” the number while noting other problems ^[5]. International outlets also picked up the administration’s announcement and repeated the 275,000 figure as a claim attributed to the president ^[6].

4. What’s missing from the supplied reporting: independent verification and methodology

Available sources in your set do not include an SSA dataset, Inspector General audit, or other independent breakdown showing how the 275,000 number was calculated, who counted as “illegal immigrants,” or whether the figure reflects removals from eligibility, administrative freezes, revocations of SSNs, or name/database deduplication (not found in current reporting). The White House memorandum does direct agencies to prioritize audits and referrals ^[3], but those documents do not amount to a transparent, public accounting of removals with methodology ^{[3] [2]}.

5. Potential causes of differing counts and related administrative actions

Reporting shows multiple administrative measures that could produce headline counts — halting automatic enumeration for some noncitizens, revoking or making SSNs inoperable for people whose status changed, removing very old or erroneous records, and broader enforcement/referral programs — and reporters have noted that actions like database fixes or policy changes can affect many records without meaning everyone removed was an ineligible beneficiary ^{[7] [4] [5]}. Government Executive coverage warned that policy changes could also inadvertently affect lawful beneficiaries, underscoring that raw numbers may conflate different administrative actions ^[8].

6. Competing perspectives and policy stakes

The White House and supporters frame removals as protecting taxpayer dollars and deterring illegal immigration ^{[1] [3]}. Advocacy groups and some reporters warn that deporting or removing immigrants from the workforce could harm Social Security’s finances because immigrants contribute payroll taxes and their removal could accelerate trust-fund depletion; one policy group argued deportations could worsen Social Security solvency ^[9]. Government Executive and other analysis pieces flagged factual errors and questioned the reliability of some administration statistics, indicating a partisan dispute over both numbers and policy effects ^{[5] [8]}.

7. Bottom line for your question

Based on the documents you provided: the administration publicly claimed roughly 275,000 illegal immigrants were removed from Social Security rolls in 2025 ^{[1] [6]}, but the Social Security Administration’s own statement linked to the memorandum “does not mention, confirm or deny” that specific number ^[2]. The sources supplied do not include an independent, verifiable SSA count or methodology that confirms how that 275,000 figure was generated (not found in current reporting).