No, undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible for Social Security and Medicare

During the presidential debate on June 27, 2024, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump sparred over many issues, including immigration policy. 

Trump suggested during the debate that people who are in the U.S. illegally are receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits under Biden’s leadership.

“Social Security, he’s destroying it because millions of people are pouring into our country and they’re putting them onto Social Security. They’re putting them onto Medicare and Medicaid,” Trump said.  

Several VERIFY readers also reached out to ask if undocumented immigrants receive Social Security and Medicare benefits. 

THE QUESTION

Are undocumented immigrants eligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits?

THE SOURCES

• Social Security Administration (SSA)
• The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)
• The Congressional Research Service (CRS)
• KFF, a nonprofit health policy organization 
• The National Immigration Forum
• The Bipartisan Policy Center
• AARP
• Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute
• Denise Gilman, clinical professor and co-director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law

THE ANSWER

No, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits.

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WHAT WE FOUND

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible to receive Social Security and Medicare benefits.

There are some noncitizens who can qualify for these benefits, but they must be legally residing in the U.S. and meet other eligibility requirements, Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, explained. 

Under federal law, unauthorized immigrants, who are sometimes called undocumented immigrants, “are not eligible for most federal benefits,” with some exceptions for things like emergency Medicaid, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

But those exceptions don’t apply to regular Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. 

Social Security pays out multiple types of benefits, including those for retirees, disabled workers and family members of a deceased person, as well as Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The SSI program provides monthly payments to people with disabilities and older adults who have little to no income or resources. 

The Social Security Administration (SSA) told VERIFY that “each Social Security program” has a “United States lawful presence payment provision which applies to retirement, survivors or disability benefits, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).”

In other words, immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally cannot receive these benefit payments.

Undocumented immigrants are also ineligible to enroll in federally funded health coverage, including Medicaid or Medicare, according to the nonprofit health policy organization KFF.

Medicare provides federal health insurance to eligible people who are 65 and older, and some people under 65 with certain disabilities or medical conditions. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides health coverage to some people with limited income and resources.

Some states do provide health benefits to undocumented immigrants, but most people in this group don’t have any health coverage apart from emergency care, the National Immigration Forum says. Undocumented immigrants who have high enough incomes may be able to purchase private health insurance. 

Undocumented immigrants are not “destroying” Social Security, either, as Trump suggested. Instead, there is evidence that they “actually improve Social Security’s bottom line,” AARP says. 

That’s because many undocumented workers have payroll taxes withheld from their wages even though they cannot collect benefits. Estimates show that undocumented workers contribute billions of dollars to Social Security annually through payroll tax deductions.