At a town hall question and answer with Elon Musk in Green Bay, Wis. on March 30 on behalf of Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel, the White House Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) revealed that since 2021, 5.5 million non-citizens have been given Social Security numbers.
Of those, DOGE has already identified 1.3 million who are collecting Medicaid, a $567 billion a year program to about 79.3 million people at about $7,100 per person collecting, an apparent waste of about $8 billion a year.
According to DOGE’s Antonio Gracias, “We’ve gone through on every benefit program… We found groups from this particular group of people, this 5.5 million people, in those benefit programs.”
But it’s not just non-citizens collecting public benefits. Gracias added, “And then what was really, really disturbing us was why? We’re asking ourselves why. And, so we actually just took a sample and looked at voter registration records and we found people here registered to vote in this population. Yes. And, who did vote and … we found some by sampling that actually did vote and we have referred them to prosecution at the Homeland Security Investigation Service.”
Generally, most Americans have to prove they are citizens to get a Social Security numbers when filling out form SS-5. The exception has been if you are working here lawfully. The Dec. 2024 version of the Social Security number application’s instructions state “To apply for an original card, you must provide at least two documents to prove age, identity, and U.S. citizenship or current lawful, work-authorized immigration status. If you are not a U.S. citizen and do not have DHS work authorization, you must prove you have a valid non-work reason for requesting a card.”
So, legal aliens get Social Security numbers, too.
And under the administration of former President Joe Biden, the Social Security numbers were also being issued to supposed asylum seekers who, generally, came here illegally. Per Gracias, “once you’re in the country and you got asylum through one of these pathways — and we’ve mapped the whole thing out — you can apply for a work document. You file a 765. It’s the work form. You get this form called the 766. That’s the authorization. And then Social Security Administration automatically send you in the mail your Social Security number. No interview. No ID.”
There’s just one problem.
States very much depend on the integrity of the Social Security database under the Help America Vote Act via Help America Vote Verification (HAVV) to verify eligibility to register to vote in U.S. elections, which is reserved to citizens.
In 2024 alone, the HAVV database was queried 16.2 million times, resulting in 3 million non-matches and another 168,854 matches for dead people.
And that was before the Social Security Administration just purged 20 million deceased persons from the Social Security database who were still marked as alive.
The implication is that states certainly need to re-run their voter registration databases against the Social Security HAVV database to remove the deceased.
But the sheer amount of Social Security numbers being issued to aliens — 5.5 million in just the past four years — whether legal or not, exposes another critical flaw to the U.S. voting franchise.
Currently, the HAVV system only purges deceased from the voter rolls but does not consider non-citizens. Outlining the long-term danger this poses to the nation’s two-party system, Musk noted at the Wisconsin town hall, “the problem with this obviously is that if you turn the swing states… blue then there are no swing states and then we’re in a permanent… one-party system. And as soon as they win that, they’ll have the House, the Senate, the Presidency, they’ll pack the Supreme Court, then they’ll … double down on… the illegals just like California.”
That, despite the fact that under 18 U.S. Code § 611, it is illegal for any alien, legal or illegal, to vote in elections. That could carry a maximum of one year in prison.
It is also illegal under 18 U.S. Code § 1015 to for any alien, legal or illegal, to register to vote: “Whoever knowingly makes any false statement or claim that he is a citizen of the United States in order to register to vote or to vote in any Federal, State, or local election (including an initiative, recall, or referendum) — shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”
Now, a new March 25 executive order by President Donald Trump, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” will finally begin to enforce those federal laws barring non-citizens from voting.
It directs the Election Assistance Commission to “take appropriate action to require, in its national mail voter registration form issued under 52 U.S.C. 20508 … documentary proof of United States citizenship, consistent with 52 U.S.C. 20508(b)(3)…”
And Attorney General Pam Bondi to “prioritize enforcement of 18 U.S.C. 611 and 1015(f) and similar laws that restrict non-citizens from registering to vote or voting, including through use of … databases or information maintained by the Department of Homeland Security; … State-issued identification records and driver license databases; and … similar records relating to citizenship.”
The order also requires Bondi to work with states to purge their records, too, of unqualified voters: “The Attorney General shall, consistent with applicable laws, coordinate with State attorneys general to assist with State-level review and prosecution of aliens unlawfully registered to vote or casting votes.”
That will include the deceased who may still be on the voter rolls, per the order, “To assist States in determining whether individuals are eligible to register and vote… The Commissioner of Social Security shall take all appropriate action to make available the Social Security Number Verification Service, the Death Master File, and any other Federal databases containing relevant information to all State and local election officials engaged in verifying the eligibility of individuals registering to vote or who are already registered. In determining and taking such action, the Commissioner of Social Security shall ensure compliance with applicable privacy and data security laws and regulations.”
It also orders that “The Attorney General shall take appropriate action with respect to States that fail to comply with the list maintenance requirements of the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act.” This is squarely laid at sanctuary states, counties and cities that have sought to skirt federal immigration laws by harboring illegal aliens.
The Help America Vote Act requires every state to maintain a computerized statewide voter registration list and make reasonable efforts to purge those lists of ineligible voters, but the only two criteria it lists for removal are if the person dies, or he or she moves out of the state.
So, what about the non-citizens? And what of the states that refuse to purge non-citizens?
Well, it is already illegal for non-citizens to either vote or register to vote as note above. And under 18 U.S. Code § 371 it is illegal for two or more persons to conspire to break any federal law.
Could that be the “appropriate action” President Trump is directing Attorney General Bondi to take under the order? For states, counties and cities, it might be better to not find out and to instead just purge the voter rolls and public benefits of ineligible persons. This is developing quickly. Stay tuned.
Robert Romano is the Executive Director of Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
