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Newsweek
28-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
DOGE Cuts to Cause 2 Million Extra Visits to Social Security Offices: Study
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Staffing cuts and office closures at the Social Security Administration (SSA), driven by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), are estimated to force seniors to make nearly 2 million additional annual trips for necessary in-person assistance, according to a new study. Newsweek reached out to the SSA for comment. Why It Matters Social Security provides vital support to nearly 69 million Americans each month, including retired workers and disabled individuals. Record backlogs and rising demand from an aging population, in addition to reduced staffing and cuts to long-held phone services, could hit rural seniors and disabled Americans the hardest—forcing beneficiaries, some with mobility issues or lack of technology access, into long lines at SSA offices or risking benefit interruptions. What to Know Researchers at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), in new data released Tuesday, say DOGE cuts plus revised SSA protocols are estimated to require people to make over 1.93 million additional trips annually to understaffed field offices each year—equating to more than 1 million wasted hours on unnecessary travel every year. Data was accumulated by analyzing SSA field office maps, the OpenTimes travel times database, and the geographic distribution of seniors (people aged 65 and over) from the Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey. "Our estimates are very conservative because when they're talking about the time, it's just the time literally to travel from one point to another and back," Devin O'Connor, a CBPP senior fellow and study co-author, told Newsweek. "It doesn't take into account traffic, time of day, other things that come into effect. "But also, it doesn't take into account how long you might spend waiting in a field office or how hard it is to get an appointment to go to a field office in the first place." The study estimates that nationally, assuming no traffic, half of all seniors must drive at least 33 minutes for a field office visit while nearly a quarter of seniors (roughly 13.5 million) live more than an hour's drive roundtrip from their nearest field office. In 31 states, including Oregon and Missouri, more than 25 percent of seniors must travel over an hour to access their nearest office. In some states, like Arkansas and Wyoming, more than 40 percent of seniors must make long treks for services. Initially, on April 14 and due to SSA changes, phone service was meant to no longer be an option for retirees and survivors applying for benefits, or for beneficiaries making direct deposit changes. In-office appearances were required. The SSA quickly reversed its own policy on telephone applications, saying most applicants could still apply by phone. But as of last month, beneficiaries are no longer able to make direct deposit changes solely by phone and transactions require either a multifactor, multistep online identity authentication, or an in-person visit. Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at CBPP, told Newsweek that beneficiaries for years were able to update their banking information over the phone. Now, they have to log into an online portal and get a custom PIN number, or go into a field office in person to authenticate their identities. "First, you have to call wait on the phone. Then, you have to wait to get an appointment, and most people aren't able to get an appointment within a month's time, and then you have to drive into the field office," Romig said. "Those burdens accumulate on seniors and people with disabilities." Travel becomes more difficult for those who live in rural areas or have transportation or mobility difficulties. It's estimated that over 6 million seniors in the U.S. don't drive, and another 8 million report a medical condition or disability that makes travel difficult. Now-deleted figures released by SSA in April showed that nearly 2,000 SSA field office staffers took a voluntary separation incentive payment (VSIP, or buyout). That impacted dozens of field offices where greater than 25 of the workforce accepted buyouts, though offices vary in size and personnel. "Almost 60 percent, six out of 10 people, are waiting more than four weeks to get into a field office, so there's no reason to think that a direct deposit change is going to be prioritized over a benefit claim," O'Connor said. "So, people who are no longer able to do this over the phone are going to be kept waiting and then have to make that travel." In March, Senate Democrats warned that SSA would close 47 field offices and six of its 10 regional offices, eliminating up to 12 percent of its total staff. This downsizing, according to lawmakers, was projected to mean an extra 75,000 to 85,000 Americans will have to visit local offices in person every week. Additional foot traffic may overwhelm the remaining offices, exacerbating case backlogs, increasing wait times, and delay benefit payments, according to the Wall Street Journal and employee unions. "I was thinking about as like my 70-year-old mom, but also my 90-year-old great aunt—those are two different levels of Internet fluency and they need to be able to serve both populations," O'Connor said. "By moving to this kind of process, there's just going to be a lot of people who are not able to complete this process and they are creating this burden to attack what to date is a very, very small amount of fraud and the primary source originating fraud risk. "It just feels like the cost-benefit analysis has not occurred. The fraud reductions burden trade-off has not been meaningfully engaged with." What People Are Saying Martin O'Malley, former Social Security Commissioner said: "Ultimately, you're going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits. I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days." (Senate Democrats, March 25, 2025). Rich Couture, spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees' Social Security Administration general committee said: "What's being served by that by a loss of 7,000 jobs? How does any of that supposedly makes this operation more efficient? How does it improve service? How does it improve productivity? Our position is that losing 7,000 people doesn't do any of those things." Anonymous SSA employee and military veteran told The Guardian: "They have these 'concepts of plans' that they're hoping are sticking but in reality, are really hurting American people." What Happens Next The Social Security Administration is moving forward with office closures and service changes, with unions, advocates and Congress watching closely. Official timelines for further closures and restructuring remain pending.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hiltzik: Trump's Kafkaesque attack on Social Security: Declaring living people as dead
In so many ways the Trump administration has given us a window into a dystopian world — flouting a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court, elevating scientific myth into healthcare policy and so on. But its latest attack on the Social Security system is arguably the most frightening of all. Reportedly pressured by Elon Musk's DOGE team and by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, the current stewards of Social Security have allowed the government to declare 6,300 people "dead" in a crucial Social Security database, even though they're very much alive. The initial reports of this action were reported by the New York Times and Washington Post, but it was confirmed for me, if somewhat obliquely, by a White House spokeswoman. You'd have a hard time explaining this to someone in a way that doesn't seem dystopian. Devin O'Connor, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities "President Trump promised mass deportations and by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport," the spokeswoman, Elizabeth Huston, told me by email. The White House claims that "DHS identified over 6,300 temporarily paroled aliens on the terrorist watch list or with FBI criminal records," and as of April 8 "terminated" their right to hold Social Security numbers or receive benefits. "To prevent them from receiving any payments," the White House told me, the Social Security Administration moved their numbers into what the White House calls the 'Ineligible Master File." What's that? It's what is officially known as Social Security's 'Death Master File," the database of deceased number holders. Make no mistake: In effect, these 6,300 living, breathing individuals have been declared "dead" by Trump administration fiat. "You'd have a hard time explaining this to someone in a way that doesn't seem dystopian," says Devin O'Connor, an expert on Social Security at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Social Security advocates are aghast. "As with most of the actions of the Social Security Administration since Trump came into office, we cannot make rational sense of the policy to place immigrants on the SSA's list of deceased persons," says Max Richtman, chief executive of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. Read more: Hiltzik: Acting commissioner's disastrous reign shows that Social Security needs protection from Trump "These are people who are in the United States legally and need active Social Security numbers in order to work and transact personal business," Richtman says. "By placing them on the list of dead persons, the Trump administration is needlessly preventing them from utilizing their Social Security numbers for legitimate reasons." Before we delve further into the consequences of this action — for the newly "dead," for all Social Security beneficiaries and indeed American citizens, and for the Social Security system itself — a few words on how this came about. It started on inauguration day, when Trump abruptly terminated four Biden administration humanitarian programs granting legal U.S. residence to applicants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela seeking asylum. By the end of Biden's term, more than 500,000 applicants had been granted so-called parole via the programs known collectively as CHNV. Typically, they feared political violence or death in their home countries. After passing national security and public safety scrutiny and showing that they had a U.S. sponsor to provide housing and other support, they were granted a "parole" of up to two years permitting them to work legally, which required them to obtain Social Security numbers and to contribute payroll tax to the program. During that period, they could seek more permanent permission to stay in the country. As of April 8, they lost those rights and obligations. The White House hasn't specified what evidence it has that the 6,300 immigrants declared "dead" were members of terrorist groups or FBI-designated criminals. As it happens, the termination order was blocked Monday by federal Judge Indira Talwani of Boston. In a 41-page order, Talwani raised the question of whether Congress had given Trump the authority, "after parole has been granted and individuals have entered the country on a lawful basis," to revoke the grants of parole "en masse." She wrote: "The answer is no." The revocation, she ruled, would have to be on a case-by-case basis, just as their paroles had been granted. Read more: Hiltzik: A Social Security insider describes DOGE's rampage at the agency and the threat to your benefits Meanwhile, Tuesday in Baltimore, federal Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander convened a hearing over whether the Social Security Administration has complied with her earlier order to keep DOGE employees' hands off the agency's records — an issue on which the unilateral "death" designations may well be relevant. Hollander had ordered acting Commissioner Leland Dudek to appear for testimony, but the government has refused to allow him to appear. That brings us back to the Death Master File. (The administration has said it should be referred to now as the "Ineligible Master File," but its authority to change its official designation isn't clear, and in any case this looks merely like an attempt to obscure the nature of the file itself.) The DMF is one of the most important and closely supervised databases in the Social Security Administration's possession. Currently it contains more than 141 million names of deceased workers, along with their Social Security numbers and their dates of birth and death. The program uses the information, according to former Social Security official Tiffany Flick, for the purpose of "discontinuing benefits payments to deceased individuals, confirming an individual's right to survivor benefits, and identifying fraud" carried out by users of dead persons' Social Security numbers. The information is carefully vetted unless it comes from family members, a state agency or a funeral home, Flick said in a court declaration. The agency takes pains to verify reports from anyone else. Of the 2.9 million death reports received each year, Flick said, fewer than one-third of 1% typically have to be corrected. Federal law requires the agency to keep the full database confidential. A redacted version, however, is marketed via the Department of Commerce to banks, credit agencies and other financial institutions — but only if they can pass an annual certification in which they have to show they can protect the data from illicit use. The limited version contains only information that is more than three years old. There can be no question that "intentionally marking people who are still living as dead" in the master file "is unheard of and improper," Flick stated. Beyond that, "when Social Security incorrectly declares someone dead, it ruins their lives," observes Nancy Altman, president of the advocacy organization Social Security Works. In 2023, Altman notes, "a Maryland woman was wrongly declared dead and found her health insurance and Social Security benefits terminated, her home listed for sale, her credit cards canceled, and her water shut off. Her health deteriorated as she spent endless hours trying to undo the mistake. Indeed, she did actually die seven months later." Because the DMF is viewed as authoritative by financial services companies, adds O'Connor, its misuse can cause "disruption in your bank account access, your credit cards canceled, your pension benefits being cut off, your insurance coverage canceled or an insurance claim denied. If you apply for a job your application could be rejected, or have a denial of credit." Read more: Hiltzik: Trump, the GOP and DOGE have launched their attack on Social Security. You should start worrying now The very idea that government bureaucrats can designate living persons as dead for reasons other than their actual death should send shudders through all Social Security participants, citizens and otherwise — especially given the manipulation of the program from Trump acolytes already and the absence of official oversight over DOGE's rampaging minions. "Now, if you're included in the Death Master File even by accident, how do you show not only that you're not dead, but that you don't belong on the file for some other unknown, mysterious reason?" O'Connor asks. "It's creating the potential for some Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmares every time they make a mistake — and there will be mistakes." As for the administration's contention that the 6,300 "dead" people are on a terrorism watch list or FBI list, the administration's treatment of facts and statistics when it comes to immigrants or Social Security does not inspire confidence. The administration, for instance, has consistently described Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom it admits to having transported to El Salvador illegally, as an "illegal alien" and a member of the criminal gang MS-13. But he was in the U.S. legally, and no valid evidence has been produced to show he's a member of MS-13 — quite the contrary, he may be a victim of MS-13. DOGE's claims about Social Security data are almost risibly ignorant. Musk asserted that DOGE found millions of dead people as old as 150 receiving benefits, but he was misinterpreting a software artifact. The manipulation of the Death Master File itself has obliterated its validity as a data source for financial and commercial institutions. If those institutions can no longer trust what was once the gold standard for information about their present or future customers, how can it be used at all? What's scariest about the cavalier manipulation of the Death Master File is that Trump's refusal to observe bureaucratic norms, statutory limitations, and even to respond to court orders, points to the question of how far he's willing to go. Designating living persons as dead could be only the beginning. "If they can do this to somebody," O'Connor says, "they can do it to anybody." Get the latest from Michael HiltzikCommentary on economics and more from a Pulitzer Prize me up. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What we know about the Social Security Administration listing thousands of living immigrants as dead
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's move to classify thousands of living immigrants as dead and cancel their Social Security numbers is an escalation of the president's crackdown on people who were legally allowed to live in the U.S. under programs instituted by his predecessor. The move will make it much harder for affected immigrants to use banks or other basic services where Social Security numbers are required. The White House says that 'by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport.' However, the affected individuals newly added to the Social Security Administration's 'Death Master File' are in the country legally. Immigrant advocates say the administration is committing "digital murder." Here's what we know about the administration's plan to note some immigrants as dead in Social Security data: Who is being affected? A Trump administration official said the SSA moved roughly 6,300 immigrants' names and Social Security numbers to a database that federal officials normally use to track the deceased after the Department of Homeland Security identified them as temporarily paroled aliens on the terrorist watch list or with FBI criminal records. The administration has not provided evidence of this assertion. The SSA maintains the most complete federal database of individuals who have died, known as the Death Master File. It contains more than 142 million records going back to 1899. In its latest move, the White House has taken to referring to it as the 'Ineligible Master File." Effective April 8, Customs and Border Patrol terminated parole for all these individuals with written notice to each of them, the Trump administration official said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and discussed the development on condition of anonymity. What happens when you lose access to a Social Security number? Without a Social Security number, you cannot legally get a job, collect Social Security benefits or receive certain government benefits. Some school districts may prevent children from enrolling in school without a Social Security number. And while some banks allow people to open an account without a Social Security number, stripping immigrants of their Social Security numbers will cut them off from many other financial services. Devin O'Connor, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that the move is unprecedented and that never before have people been deliberately added to death rolls when they are still alive. 'The administration is saying they have the right to declare someone as dead when they have not died — where is the oversight here?" O'Connor asked. 'And what happens when they make a mistake?' Former Social Security Administrator Martin O'Malley told The Associated Press, 'The police state is here, now.' The administration's latest move violates privacy rules meant to protect everyone's personal data, he said. How does this affect the broader public? Experts warn that the targeting of immigrants could just be the beginning. O'Connor said, 'The idea that you can rename the Death Master File and decide you can put people on the list as persona non grata" is unheard of and should concern everyone. 'If they can do it to one group, they can do it to anyone — in error or in malice,' Kathleen Romig, the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, posted on the BlueSky social media app Thursday. 'A person must be (asterisk)lawfully admitted(asterisk) to the U.S. to be assigned a Social Security number,' she said in another post. 'Don't let the Trump Administration gaslight you. Their 'digital murder' policy isn't about undocumented immigrants. It's about people who came here legally.' How else is the administration tracking down immigrants? Earlier this week, DHS revoked the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who used the CBP One app. They had generally been allowed to remain in the U.S. for two years with work authorization under presidential parole authority during the Biden era but are now expected to self-deport. Additionally, DHS and the Treasury Department signed a deal this week that would allow the IRS to share immigrants' tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the U.S. The agreement will allow ICE to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records. The acting IRS commissioner, Melanie Krause, who had served in that capacity since February, stepped down over that deal. Advocates say the Treasury-DHS information-sharing agreement violates privacy laws and diminishes the privacy of all Americans.
The Independent
11-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
What we know about the Social Security Administration listing thousands of living immigrants as dead
The Trump administration's move to classify thousands of living immigrants as dead and cancel their Social Security numbers is an escalation of the president's crackdown on people who were legally allowed to live in the U.S. under programs instituted by his predecessor. The move will make it much harder for affected immigrants to use banks or other basic services where Social Security numbers are required. The White House says that 'by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport.' However, the affected individuals newly added to the Social Security Administration's 'Death Master File' are in the country legally. Immigrant advocates say the administration is committing "digital murder." Here's what we know about the administration's plan to note some immigrants as dead in Social Security data: Who is being affected? A Trump administration official said the SSA moved roughly 6,300 immigrants' names and Social Security numbers to a database that federal officials normally use to track the deceased after the Department of Homeland Security identified them as temporarily paroled aliens on the terrorist watch list or with FBI criminal records. The administration has not provided evidence of this assertion. The SSA maintains the most complete federal database of individuals who have died, known as the Death Master File. It contains more than 142 million records going back to 1899. In its latest move, the White House has taken to referring to it as the 'Ineligible Master File." Effective April 8, Customs and Border Patrol terminated parole for all these individuals with written notice to each of them, the Trump administration official said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and discussed the development on condition of anonymity. What happens when you lose access to a Social Security number? Without a Social Security number, you cannot legally get a job, collect Social Security benefits or receive certain government benefits. Some school districts may prevent children from enrolling in school without a Social Security number. And while some banks allow people to open an account without a Social Security number, stripping immigrants of their Social Security numbers will cut them off from many other financial services. Devin O'Connor, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that the move is unprecedented and that never before have people been deliberately added to death rolls when they are still alive. 'The administration is saying they have the right to declare someone as dead when they have not died — where is the oversight here?" O'Connor asked. 'And what happens when they make a mistake?' Former Social Security Administrator Martin O'Malley told The Associated Press, 'The police state is here, now.' The administration's latest move violates privacy rules meant to protect everyone's personal data, he said. How does this affect the broader public? Experts warn that the targeting of immigrants could just be the beginning. O'Connor said, 'The idea that you can rename the Death Master File and decide you can put people on the list as persona non grata" is unheard of and should concern everyone. 'If they can do it to one group, they can do it to anyone — in error or in malice,' Kathleen Romig, the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, posted on the BlueSky social media app Thursday. 'A person must be (asterisk)lawfully admitted(asterisk) to the U.S. to be assigned a Social Security number,' she said in another post. 'Don't let the Trump Administration gaslight you. Their 'digital murder' policy isn't about undocumented immigrants. It's about people who came here legally.' How else is the administration tracking down immigrants? Earlier this week, DHS revoked the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who used the CBP One app. They had generally been allowed to remain in the U.S. for two years with work authorization under presidential parole authority during the Biden era but are now expected to self-deport. Additionally, DHS and the Treasury Department signed a deal this week that would allow the IRS to share immigrants' tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the U.S. The agreement will allow ICE to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records. The acting IRS commissioner, Melanie Krause, who had served in that capacity since February, stepped down over that deal.
Associated Press
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
What we know about the Social Security Administration listing thousands of living immigrants as dead
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's move to classify thousands of living immigrants as dead and cancel their Social Security numbers is an escalation of the president's crackdown on people who were legally allowed to live in the U.S. under programs instituted by his predecessor. The move will make it much harder for affected immigrants to use banks or other basic services where Social Security numbers are required. The White House says that 'by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport.' However, the affected individuals newly added to the Social Security Administration's 'Death Master File' are in the country legally. Immigrant advocates say the administration is committing 'digital murder.' Here's what we know about the administration's plan to note some immigrants as dead in Social Security data: Who is being affected? A Trump administration official said the SSA moved roughly 6,300 immigrants' names and Social Security numbers to a database that federal officials normally use to track the deceased after the Department of Homeland Security identified them as temporarily paroled aliens on the terrorist watch list or with FBI criminal records. The administration has not provided evidence of this assertion. The SSA maintains the most complete federal database of individuals who have died, known as the Death Master File. It contains more than 142 million records going back to 1899. In its latest move, the White House has taken to referring to it as the 'Ineligible Master File.' Effective April 8, Customs and Border Patrol terminated parole for all these individuals with written notice to each of them, the Trump administration official said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and discussed the development on condition of anonymity. What happens when you lose access to a Social Security number? Without a Social Security number, you cannot legally get a job, collect Social Security benefits or receive certain government benefits. Some school districts may prevent children from enrolling in school without a Social Security number. And while some banks allow people to open an account without a Social Security number, stripping immigrants of their Social Security numbers will cut them off from many other financial services. Devin O'Connor, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that the move is unprecedented and that never before have people been deliberately added to death rolls when they are still alive. 'The administration is saying they have the right to declare someone as dead when they have not died — where is the oversight here?' O'Connor asked. 'And what happens when they make a mistake?' Former Social Security Administrator Martin O'Malley told The Associated Press, 'The police state is here, now.' The administration's latest move violates privacy rules meant to protect everyone's personal data, he said. How does this affect the broader public? Experts warn that the targeting of immigrants could just be the beginning. O'Connor said, 'The idea that you can rename the Death Master File and decide you can put people on the list as persona non grata' is unheard of and should concern everyone. 'If they can do it to one group, they can do it to anyone — in error or in malice,' Kathleen Romig, the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, posted on the BlueSky social media app Thursday. 'A person must be (asterisk)lawfully admitted(asterisk) to the U.S. to be assigned a Social Security number,' she said in another post. 'Don't let the Trump Administration gaslight you. Their 'digital murder' policy isn't about undocumented immigrants. It's about people who came here legally.' How else is the administration tracking down immigrants? Earlier this week, DHS revoked the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who used the CBP One app. They had generally been allowed to remain in the U.S. for two years with work authorization under presidential parole authority during the Biden era but are now expected to self-deport. Additionally, DHS and the Treasury Department signed a deal this week that would allow the IRS to share immigrants' tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the U.S. The agreement will allow ICE to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records. The acting IRS commissioner, Melanie Krause, who had served in that capacity since February, stepped down over that deal. Advocates say the Treasury-DHS information-sharing agreement violates privacy laws and diminishes the privacy of all Americans.
