Millions of legal immigrants' lives upended after social security froze program without notice: ‘I lost the job'

The Guardian

4 days ago

Millions of legal immigrants may be left unable to work after the US Social Security Administration quietly instituted a rule change to stop automatically issuing them social security numbers.
The Enumeration Beyond Entry program is an agreement between the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security, where US Citizenship and Immigration Services would provide social security with information from applicants for work authorization or naturalization.
The program began in 2017 under the first Trump Administration.
Without any public notice, on 19 March, the program was halted, impacting millions of immigrants every year and burdening Social Security Administration offices, as those applicants will now have to visit a Social Security Administration office and apply separately to receive a social security number.
Following the freeze, the Trump administration issued a memo on 15 April aimed at preventing undocumented immigrants from receiving social security benefits, but provided no evidence of it being an issue.
Trump and Elon Musk, billionaire former leader of the so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) have falsely claimed these programs are being used to attract unauthorized immigrants to vote for Democrats.
'Unauthorized immigrants are not eligible for Medicare or social security retirement benefits. Nor does any evidence exist that unauthorized immigrants fraudulently receive benefits in large numbers,' wrote Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, an economics professor at Boston College, in a blog post.
Lee Thacker moved to south-west Minnesota last summer with his now wife, a native of the US. After getting married, he applied for a work authorization card while his permanent residency application was being processed.
When the 52-year-old from Pontypridd in Wales received his work authorization card at the end of April 2025, he began applying for jobs and received a job offer. After he failed to receive his social security number, 'I lost the job,' said Thacker.
'I needed a background check and the company doing the check required a social security number, and the company itself has a policy of not employing people without social security numbers. So I am legally entitled to work, but in practice I can't because no one will employ me without a social security number.'
He noted the work authorization form, I-765, still has a checkbox on it to fill out to receive a social security number card, which he did. He paid $260 for the employment authorization card application and was expecting to receive it within two weeks of receiving his work authorization card.
Thacker was not informed why until he visited a Social Security Administration field office about half an hour away, where he was informed about the change.
In 2022, undocumented immigrants paid $25.7bn in taxes to Social Security, despite not being eligible to receive the benefits.
'It's definitely affected a lot of individuals. We've tried to warn all of our clients,' said Jennifer Bade, an immigration lawyer based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Bade explained the issues and difficulties immigrants face in visiting a Social Security Administration field office, including having to take time off work, language barriers, and issues and delays for immigrants who need a social security number to start a job, open a bank account, or receive a loan.
'The pausing of this program makes no sense,' added Bade. 'It's all just meant to attack immigrants, and it has no actual benefits. Pausing this program literally has no benefits.'
Democrats on the House committee on oversight and government reform urged the Social Security Administration to reverse its decision to freeze the program.
According to ranking member of the committee, the late Congressman Gerald Connolly, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration personally approved the pause despite legal concerns and warnings over the effects of pausing the program.
Hope Rudasill of North Carolina said her husband, whose name is being kept anonymous for fear of retaliation, recently filed for a work authorization card, but did not expect the delay in receiving a social security number, as he was told it would be issued automatically when he filed his application.
'My husband hasn't been able to start his job search because most employers require a valid social security number before even considering applications. It's also prevented him from applying for a driver's license which limits his ability to get around independently,' Rudasill told The Guardian.
'We haven't been able to open a joint bank account, which is not only inconvenient for managing finances, but also creates challenges when we go to our adjustment of status interview [an essential part of applying for lawful permanent residency] as a shared bank account is a key piece of evidence to prove we're building a life together and not having that documentation makes the process more stressful.'
The rule change came as billionaire Musk pushed misinformation about immigrants and social security benefits, including touting data from the Enumeration Beyond Entry program, falsely claiming it was evidence of fraud.
In fiscal year 2024, 3.24m initial employment authorization documents were approved by US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The costs of issuing a social security number through this program in the same year, according to a Social Security Administration memo, was $8 per issuance, compared to $55.80 in a field office.
Those field offices are also operating with reduced staff, as the Social Security Administration sought to cut staff by at least 12%, and Doge has terminated leases for at least 47 offices at the agency. The freeze is likely to add even more pressure to staff at the agency, in addition to new phone restrictions implemented by the Trump Administration, which will require individuals to make 1.93 million additional trips to Social Security field offices annually.
'I was hoping I would be able to work within a few months of applying for permanent residency, once I got the employment authorization card,' Lee Thacker added. 'If I had known social security cards were no longer being sent out automatically, I would have made an in-person visit shortly after getting my employment authorization card. There must be many people waiting patiently expecting to receive their social security cards. If this is a permanent change local SSA offices will be receiving more in-person visits at a time when staffing numbers are being reduced.'
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Social Security Administration said in an email: 'The Enumeration Beyond Entry (EBE) process is currently paused for noncitizens granted work authorization (I-765) and newly naturalized US citizens (N-400) for 90 days, while the agency is evaluating its enumeration policies and procedures. SSA will continue to process EBE applications for those granted legal permanent resident status (I-485) along with all EBE applications that were filed prior to March 18, 2025.'