Trump aids Musk's Social Security fraud hunt, despite lack of evidence
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Musk and Trump have made repeated debunked claims that droves of dead people are getting Social Security checks. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
President Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday attempting to curtail Social Security fraud, despite ample evidence against widespread improper payments.
Why it matters: The move bolsters Elon Musk's DOGE-related efforts to eliminate Social Security fraud, about which he has continually exaggerated and promoted conspiracy theories.
Driving the news: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that the memorandum aims to restrict undocumented immigrants from receiving Social Security retirement benefits, which they are already legally barred from doing.
- Trump is expanding the Social Security's fraud prosecutor program to at least 50 U.S. Attorney offices, according to the White House.
- Additionally, Trump is establishing a Medicare and Medicaid fraud prosecution program in 15 U.S. Attorney offices.
- Trump will also require the Social Security Administration's inspector general to investigate recipients who are more than 100 years old and have mismatched records.
Catch up quick: Trump's move throws extra muscle behind Musk's campaign to eliminate Social Security fraud, which has threatened critical benefits to the entire pool of beneficiaries.
- The agency's new bids to address fraud have included cutting off phone services, which it eventually backed off from after weeks of confusion and outcry.
- The Trump administration has repeatedly said it will protect Social Security, and that changes are meant to address fraud and increase efficiency.
- Musk and Trump have made repeated debunked claims that droves of dead people are getting Social Security checks.
- Musk has characterized the program as a "Ponzi scheme" lousy with fraud, and has repeated a false conspiracy theory that undocumented immigrants receive payments.
By the numbers: Undocumented immigrants do pay Social Security taxes — more than $25 billion in 2022, according to one estimate — but do not collect benefits.
- A recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that less than one one-hundredth of a percent of the $1.5 trillion that the SSA paid out in benefits last year was lost to direct deposit fraud.
- Likewise, less than one one-hundredth of a percent of SSA's 70 million beneficiaries had their direct deposits redirected in 2023.
What they're saying: "There is no evidence that there is a very much fraud at all," said Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. She worked at the government agency for years under different administrations, most recently in the Biden administration.
- "This is a solution in search of a problem," Romig said.
- The system has checks in place to prevent fraud already, she said, in a recent interview with Axios.
- The changes the White House is making to combat such fraud will likely cost more than the government actually loses due to fraud, former Social Security officials have told Axios.
- Axios' Emily Peck contributed reporting to this story.
