During the Bible administration how many non-citizen social security cards were issued
Executive summary
Public reporting compiled from Social Security Administration (SSA) program counts and media coverage shows roughly 3.9–4.0 million Social Security numbers (SSNs) were issued to non‑citizens during the four full fiscal years of the Biden presidency (FY2021–FY2024), with year‑by‑year tallies commonly reported as about 270,000 in 2021, ~590,000 in 2022, ~964,000 in 2023 and ~2.1 million in 2024 — a sum near 3.924 million [1] [2] [3]. Those raw counts reflect SSNs assigned to non‑citizens who were generally lawfully present and, in most cases, authorized to work under the joint Enumeration Beyond Entry (EBE) process between USCIS and the SSA, not an open issuance to undocumented or otherwise ineligible people [4] [5].
1. The headline number and how it’s calculated
Multiple outlets and public charts shown at events report the Biden‑era year‑by‑year counts — roughly 270,000 in FY2021, about 590,000 in FY2022, roughly 964,000 in FY2023 and just over 2.1 million in FY2024 — which add to approximately 3.9–4.0 million SSNs issued to non‑citizens across those four fiscal years [1] [2] [3]. Those summaries are the basis for the widely circulated “nearly 4 million” figure; different reports round and label the totals slightly differently, but the arithmetic of the cited year values produces that near‑4 million total [6] [7].
2. What these counts represent in practice
The counts reflect enumeration of immigrants — primarily those who have applied successfully for work authorization, lawful permanent residency (green card) or naturalization — through the EBE program that shares USCIS‑verified applicant data with SSA so cards can be issued without separate in‑office proofs [4] [8]. SSA policy also allows certain non‑citizens a non‑work‑authorized SSN for valid non‑work reasons; cards can carry work restrictions when appropriate [9] [10]. Fact‑checking outlets and former SSA officials emphasize that issuance under EBE is tied to legal immigration processes, not blanket issuance to undocumented migrants [4] [5].
3. Why the numbers rose sharply in 2023–2024
Experts and former SSA leadership told reporters that the uptick was expected because the Biden administration expanded legal immigration pathways and extended EBE to additional USCIS forms (including naturalization filings) and larger caseloads, which produced more automatic enumerations [4] [8] [5]. Media reporting framed the FY2024 spike as a consequence of program expansion and higher volumes of eligible applicants rather than evidence of fraud or illicit giveaways [2] [5].
4. Competing narratives and misinformation risks
Public displays of the totals at political events and some partisan commentary portrayed the counts as proof of systemic fraud or a deliberate scheme to alter voter rolls; multiple fact‑checking outlets and journalists countered that portrayal, noting EBE’s lawful focus and the longstanding rule that non‑citizens who are unauthorized to work do not receive SSNs for payroll purposes [3] [4] [11]. The SSA press office declined to authenticate a privately displayed chart in some reporting, which left room for interpretation and partisan amplification [11].
5. Reporting limitations and what remains unclear
While year totals are repeatedly cited in news coverage and by commentators, full public reconciliation of program counts, the precise split between work‑authorized versus non‑work SSNs, and any field‑office issued SSNs outside EBE across every year is limited in the public reporting; the SSA’s published guidance explains categories and restrictions but media outlets note gaps in independently verifying every charted datapoint [9] [10] [11]. Therefore the best supported statement from available reporting is that roughly 3.9–4.0 million SSNs were issued to non‑citizens during FY2021–FY2024, and those issuances were largely tied to lawful‑presence and work‑authorization processes via EBE rather than blanket assignment to undocumented populations [1] [2] [4].