To receive Social Security retirement or Disability Insurance payments, a worker must have paid enough taxes. For example, to claim benefits at the age of 62, you must have worked for at least 10 years and earned at least 40 work credits. The Agency has made an important Statement on President Donald Trump’s Memorandum.
This Memorandum aims to prevent illegal aliens from getting Social Security Act Benefits. Thus, SSA has recently showed its full support for President Donald Trump’s memorandum. As a matter of fact, this memorandum strengthens the Administration’s responsibility to safeguard every single taxpayer’s dollar. Besides, it also ensures the integrity of the programs SSA administers.
What are the key actions the Social Security wants to take?
Since President Trump’s memorandum directs the Social Security Administration to take various key actions which are aimed at stopping ineligible people and illegal aliens from getting these benefits, this is what SSA will do:
- The Administration will expand SSA’s fraud prosecutor programs
- SSA will also look into earnings reports of people who are 100 years old or older which have mismatched records
- SSA will consider reinstatement of the Administration’s civil monetary penalty program
- Last but not least, SSA will reinforce the program integrity measures in order to ensure that only noncitizens who meet all the eligibility requirements can get benefits under the Social Security Act
How many people get benefits from Social Security?
The Administration manages 3 key essential programs in the United States. The 3 of them are under the Social Security Act, and they support a total of 70 million individuals in 2025.
Therefore, they are an important source of income for many retirees and people with disability, among other recipients. For your information, the OASI (Old-Age and Survivors Insurance) program was established in 1935.
Only in 2024, it paid more than $1.3 trillion in FY 2024. So, it gave monthly payments to about 59 million retirees and survivors. Apart from retirement and survivor benefits, DI represents an important part of the benefits in the U.S.
In fact, about 8 million Americans receive SSDI benefits, and the Disability Insurance program spent about $157 billion in FY 2024. This program has been going on since 1956, so it is not as old as the others.
SSI (Supplemental Security Income) is also an important program that the Federal Government funds. The SSI program is the newest one, from 1972, and the Government spent $56 billion in FY 2024. The number of SSI recipients is also high, about 7.4 million.
Hence, it is of vital importance to check that all recipients who apply and qualify meet the strict requirements the Social Security Administration has set. Any changes in your situation must be reported to SSA to avoid overpayments. If you need further information about this topic, visit the official website at: https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2025/#2025-04-16