Epoch Times - SSA Chief Says They’re Removing Illegal Immigrants and Dead People from Systems

March 28, 2026 - Epoch Times

01:39

SSA Chief Says They’re Removing Illegal Immigrants and Dead People from Systems

SSA Chief details a historic data reconciliation initiative removing illegal immigrants and deceased individuals from federal systems. By prioritizing unprecedented risk team verification, the agency ensures only valid citizens with proof receive benefits, driving payment accuracy. This rigorous cleanup eliminates fraud by excluding those determined not to be alive, marking significant progress toward accurate books and records while securing taxpayer funds for entitled recipients alone. [Automatically generated summary]
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Time	Text
Reconciling Files for Citizens 00:01:38
	When it comes to social security, how big an issue is it that people who are illegally in the United States have access to that system and are collecting money they shouldn't be?
	Well, I think, you know, back to that story about reconciling the file.
	That's one of the main components of it.
	Ensuring that people who are on file are citizens, valid citizens that we have proof of.
	And, you know, that's been the journey we've been on since we came here to have accurate books and records.
	So we like to believe that we've made a large dent in it.
	I think you'll hear shortly from us the culmination of that effort.
	Any hints now?
	Tremendous progress and the reason why we're able to drive payment accuracy over time up because we're only paying to those who should get paid.
	You know, there was a lot of dialogue about the fact that we took people off the system who we figured out weren't still alive.
	So we want to be exactly accurate in everything we do because it has a financial implication and it has an identity implication, right?
	But I'd give the risk team tremendous, tremendous grades for what they've kind of done in calling through all this data and making it a priority in something that's never been done before.

Time

Text

Reconciling Files for Citizens 00:01:38

When it comes to social security, how big an issue is it that people who are illegally in the United States have access to that system and are collecting money they shouldn't be?

Well, I think, you know, back to that story about reconciling the file.

That's one of the main components of it.

Ensuring that people who are on file are citizens, valid citizens that we have proof of.

And, you know, that's been the journey we've been on since we came here to have accurate books and records.

So we like to believe that we've made a large dent in it.

I think you'll hear shortly from us the culmination of that effort.

Any hints now?

Tremendous progress and the reason why we're able to drive payment accuracy over time up because we're only paying to those who should get paid.

You know, there was a lot of dialogue about the fact that we took people off the system who we figured out weren't still alive.

So we want to be exactly accurate in everything we do because it has a financial implication and it has an identity implication, right?

But I'd give the risk team tremendous, tremendous grades for what they've kind of done in calling through all this data and making it a priority in something that's never been done before.