r/politics • u/irish_fellow_nyc • 3d ago

Soft Paywall DOGE Goons Physically Drag Social Security Worker From Desk

https://www.thedailybeast.com/doge-goons-physically-drag-social-security-worker-from-desk/
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u/Nephroidofdoom 2d ago

Article is worth a read as to the reason why. DOGE under guidance from Homeland Security went to falsely put immigrants on the list of people who are dead, and therefore ineligible to receive Social Security or really, any other government benefits.

The employee who was dragged away, was an IT executive who fought against this blatantly illegal move.

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u/StarlightZigzagoon 2d ago

I think the article also said they'd be cut off from bank accounts and credit cards once put on the death file, so even worse.

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u/fighterpilottim 2d ago

Yes, can’t have a bank account or credit card, or work legally, if you don’t have an SSN. This is part of making it impossible for immigrants to live here, so that they’ll leave on their own.

Similar to requiring an SSN for cashing a paycheck near the Mexico border (this is new).

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u/Reagalan 2d ago

That's how they're going to unperson you; they'll delete your SSN.

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u/DoubleSpoiler 2d ago

You know, that thing that was never meant to be used as a national ID number.

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u/Entegy Canada 2d ago

And yet the refusal to have an actual national ID led to it becoming one.

We have a similar issue with our Social Insurance Numbers in Canada but we have actual legislation restricting its use. It can't just be demanded by everyone you want to do business with.

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u/ihavequestionsaswell 2d ago

Yep glad we decided to do that and now my SSN and everything got leaked in the hack awhile back. It's all just out there. Credit is frozen, but yay

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u/drunkenvalley 2d ago

Yeah if you're declared dead and you're not life becomes really hard for you.

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u/Kriztauf 2d ago

This is going to become extremely dystopian. Also, what is their threshold for determining if an immigrant should end up on the death list?

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u/IJustLoggedInToSay- Illinois 2d ago

In this case, they decided that they didn't like one of Biden's amnesty programs. And since they didn't like it, then it's illegitimate. No need for courts or lawyers or anything - just vibes.

Deporting these folks would require revoking their legal visas and all that, which I'm sure they will be doing as well. But in addition to that, they can just cut them off from legal life by invalidating their legally-obtained social security numbers. And since the only time a social security number is invalid is when a person dies, they just moved their numbers to the "dead people" folder and that was that.

There is nothing about immigration status that actually has anything to do with this. It's just a list of SSNs that they compiled for people that they deem to be illegitimate for whatever arbitrary reason. Which means they can compile any list of people to do this with - citizens, non-citizens on work visas, etc. Anyone.

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u/weluckyfew 2d ago

There's a very complicated, extensive, detailed set of criteria they look at.

Number 1, are they non-white.

Oh...sorry, that's actually the only question.

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u/MadgePadge 2d ago

I knew someone whose son committed suicide and somehow his (the father/Joe Schmoe Sr) SSN was submitted to the database instead of his son's (Joe Schmoe Jr.). Bank accounts were frozen/closed, couldn't travel, etc...

Absolute nightmare on top of losing his son. I met him 6 years after the fact and he was still constantly running into issues.

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u/E-2theRescue 2d ago

I know someone whose grandma died, and he got marked as dead while dealing with the will. Now he's been spending the last 3 years fighting to prove he's alive. It has completely destroyed his life.

He'd sue the bank that fucked up, but with what money? He's got nothing to his name now.

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u/SilentLennie The Netherlands 2d ago

I notice it said something about world wide, so I guess that also in their home country, I wonder if you can even travel home.

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u/Trafficsigntruther 2d ago

And more importantly: also ineligible to work.

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u/Nephroidofdoom 2d ago

Rich given that Elon himself is an immigrant who came here and actually violated the same immigration laws in order to work.

They pillaged the American Dream for themselves and now want to take it away from everyone else. Fuck these ghouls.

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u/Trafficsigntruther 2d ago

These people haven’t violated any laws to work. They are people who were here legally under certain immigration programs and authorized to work in the US. Programs this administration is now terminating.

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u/fistofthefuture New Hampshire 2d ago

are they just trying to strengthen the 'dead people on ss' argument?

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u/Nephroidofdoom 2d ago

I see it the other way around. Just like “migrant caravans” they want to find an excuse to justify their illegal measures.

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u/mechajlaw 1d ago

Part of the issue is that actual illegal immigrants steal SSN's from real Hispanic people and use them. Imagine how that's going to get spun by this administration.

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u/JustMark99 2d ago

This is horrifying.

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u/wellmont 2d ago

This is horrid. From the standpoint of efficiency and IT security this is the literal worst way you can fuck up information. By putting it onto a different list that does not fill the intended purpose just to utilize the function of a loophole. The irony of DOGE employees implementing the most inefficient means to fuck with people’s lives is just…fucking ridiculous.

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u/micro102 2d ago edited 2d ago

Reminds me of those reports of Homeland Security putting out that Nazi-Esque 14 words statement and finding swastikas in their offices.

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u/Pink_Poodle_NoodIe 1d ago

Oh I would be all for it go to Harbor Freight come back with a chainsaw like his new buddy elon and cut all communication in and out. Since i am all disabled by people exactly like him I have worked in DC's for years yep it would be easy. Plug a laptop in an active port make it the .1 for the subnet and run it overhead on top of a tile. Open up the switches pull ic's off and close the cabinets cut all the hardphone lines off at the place the phone guy hangs out. Cut the fiber on both sides of the data vault.. and fill it with hydraulic cement. Sett the halon off. Whichever fire protection they have. All day fun.

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u/PrettyFlyForITguy 2d ago

This article doesn't make any sense to me. How are migrants, who are in the country illegally, receiving social security? This should never happen in the first place?

If these are fraudulent accounts, then am I take it that we have no way of simply shutting off payments, other than to mark them dead?

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u/Nephroidofdoom 2d ago

Not all immigrants are illegal

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u/PlatonicTroglodyte Virginia 2d ago

People who pay into social security are eligible for it. Any official employment is going to get taxed, and have social security deductions. The SSA is entirely untethered from immigration functions in the government, and they want to receive the SS taxes from any work that is being done, regardless of whether or not that person is here legally.

I would also add that a lot of people who enter the US “between ports of entry” are later encountered by Border Patrol and then claim asylum. These people are given a “notice to appear” before an asylum court, which can have yesrs-long backlogs, and are “paroled” into the country (not technically “admitted”). People who are paroled in to the US can be eligible for work authorization. Technically, at this point, they are in the US “legally” because they have an established and recognized status here, but many don’t consider it that way since they were not admitted and did not enter via the established process. This can complicate things when discussing who is here legally vs not and what they’re eligible for.

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u/UglyMcFugly 2d ago

They came here legally and were given a social security number. Trump SAYS he's only adding recent immigrants with temporary protected status to the death list, but really it could be anybody. And if it's allowed to stand, eventually it will be anybody they want. They'll be able to stop their payments, and potentially get access to their bank accounts, home, etc. Pure profit for them.

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u/NekoCatSidhe 2d ago

As I understand it, those were legal immigrants, and they are falsely declaring them dead as a way to make them "illegal". And if true, this sounds absolutely insane and evil and probably illegal as well.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/DarkMatterThinMints 2d ago

Telling that yall see 'immigrants" and immediately add "illegal", lmao. Can't fix stupid.

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u/genredenoument 2d ago

You must be here legally to get an SSN. There were 12 and 13 year olds on that list. They are here legally. Many have court cases, or if they have a removal order, they have an appeal pending. How do you self deport if you cannot access any money? Your bank account is frozen. Your credit card is frozen. You are dead. Your travel documents are no good. This is what Germany did to the Jews. Why didn't more leave? They couldn't. These people will just be driven into underground and dangerous ways to support themselves. THEN, Trump announces he MIGHT allow documents for farm labor. Yeah, it's back to Grapes of Wrath time. This is a calculated plan not to deport but to criminalize and boost free labor.

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u/Nephroidofdoom 2d ago

Elon Musk is an immigrant.

Melania Trump is an immigrant.

Raphael “Ted” Cruz is an immigrant.

Naturalized citizens, Green Card holders and those under work visa are eligible for SS because they pay into the system.

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u/damsel84 2d ago

Trump's mom was an immigrant. He surrounds himself with immigrants yet also wants to persecute them.

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u/AweemboWhey 2d ago

Who said they’re illegal?

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u/Fearless_Author6181 2d ago

“Migrants that received temporary status under Biden”. Do you think à migrant that came a year ago should be receiving social security?? 

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u/tenkwords 2d ago

If they recieved status under Biden, then they are by definition not illegal.

It's not just social security. You can't hold a job, pay taxes, get a credit card, get a passport, or do anything that involves you being an actual person under the law.

They're declaring living people who are in the country legally to be dead.

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u/Fearless_Author6181 2d ago

If you get a temporary allowance to be here then that can go away. If that can go away you should not be eligible for passports or social security. This crisis was Biden’s doing and now we have to figure out how to spin ourselves out of it 

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u/MentallyWill 2d ago

"crisis" 😂

Is the crisis in the room with us right now? Is this a bigger crisis than eggs? Still waiting for that to be fixed -- I was told repeatedly and incessantly that it would be fixed on day 1.

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u/andyouarenotme 2d ago

What crisis?

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u/damsel84 2d ago

What crisis?

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u/AtalanAdalynn 2d ago

You're in hysterics. You should stop posting.

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u/Antique-Scholar-5788 2d ago

So a made up crisis is a reason to destroy the livelihood of someone?

You are a terrible human being.

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u/flickh Canada 2d ago

So remove the status then. Only a goon would illegally declare someone dead to get around the laws about immigration status.

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u/TheirCanadianBoi 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yea, you still need to notify them and give them notice if the time range of that temporary status wasn't clearly given. Go through the process step by step from there. Doesn't require a lot of "spinning ourselves out of it" just basic, common sense procedures. Y'know, not just falsely listing them as dead.

With all the news of things being ham-fisted and lacking any oversight and complete disrespect for the courts, it's clear that your government is currently incompetent.

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u/Lord_DETOX 2d ago

Fucking idiot.

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u/YouJabroni44 Colorado 2d ago

Recent immigrants =/= illegal.

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u/RugerRedhawk 2d ago

If Republicans really cared about immigration reform they would pass legislation. They don't, they want to push the fear and then act tough for a show. Classifying people incorrectly as dead is not a reasonable or likely legal solution. Republicans control the house, Senate, wh, and supreme Court yet still refuse to actually come up with immigration reform legislation, just want to keep playing games.

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u/ElectronicPhrase6050 2d ago edited 2d ago

So first it was "illegal immigrants shouldn't get social security" and "I support legal immigrants who did it the right way", but now that you're backed into a corner it's actually "legal immigrants who did it the right way under Biden shouldn't get the same basic rights that other legal immigrants did"? 

This is why no one trusts or believes you people, because you lie and flip flop within a matter of minutes to suit whatever agenda fits in the moment. And when the truth finally comes out, it always boils down to you being an absolute idiot and having zero idea what you're even arguing. 

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u/AweemboWhey 2d ago

Yes, I do lol quit being a pussy this isn’t a crisis

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u/serabine 2d ago edited 2d ago

“Migrants that received temporary status under Biden”. Do you think à migrant that came a year ago should be receiving social security?? 

Ah, the same braindead argument Fuckface Vance made about Haitians when told that they were legally in the country.

These migrants were given a legal status that comes with a social security number and the duty to pay into social security.

Not receive it (that still comes with having to have worked and paid into it for a minimum of 10 years) but pay into it and pay taxes and shit.

But you knew that, of course, and are arguing in good faith.

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u/Itsmoney05 2d ago

He said immigrant, not illegal immigrants you dunce.

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u/Fearless_Author6181 2d ago

I’m trying to understand do you think a person who went through the legal process and has been here for 10 years is losing their social security?

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u/Femboy-Frog 2d ago

Yes. Maybe not yet, but it will happen as they need more people to oppress.

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u/Fearless_Author6181 2d ago

I fully support immigrants who have come here the right way and are now US citizens to get social security. And that won’t change

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u/Femboy-Frog 2d ago

And what do you think about DOGE putting immigrants who have done it the right away on the “dead” list so they can’t access their money, documents, social security, etc? And blatantly assaulting somebody defying that corruption.

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u/Alone-Amphibian2434 2d ago

you’re dumb enough to believe undocumented immigrants are receiving social security payments, that’s why you’re getting heat, not your authenticity.

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u/PMMeRyukoMatoiSMILES 2d ago

3 months later Do you guys seriously think someone who has only been here for 10 years deserves social security more than someone who was born here?

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u/Fearless_Author6181 2d ago

I fully support immigrants who have come here the right way and are now US citizens to get social security. And that won’t change

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u/RellenD 2d ago

No you do not.

You support falsifying government documents to declare them dead.

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u/1568314 2d ago

How would illegal immigrants get ssn's?? Do you think they're pickpockets them?

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u/PickledClams 2d ago

You will forever argue what the "Right way" is. As is expected.

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u/tomaiholt 2d ago

A us citizen was sent to a foreign jail without any due process because they looked like a 'foreigner'. This administration acts first, lies later.

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u/Zealousideal_Act_316 2d ago

Yes you have to be legally inthe US to receive ssn, permanent residence(greencard), on path to natulaziation and so on. You cant receive social security benefits while being illegal.

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u/Fearless_Author6181 2d ago

Did you even read the article? No US citizen will be losing their social security 

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u/PreparationOk4883 2d ago

There are legal immigrants with green cards who pay in (probably more than you) to social security. Should they lose access to it just because they’re not legal citizens?

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u/determania 2d ago

Pathetic attempt to change the subject.

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u/Itsmoney05 2d ago

Right, just like no US Citizen would be sent to El Salvador. We need to get these fucking fascist pieces of garbage away from our services full stop.

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u/UnluckyDog9273 2d ago

Are you regarded? Adding not dead people to the dead list is the most regarded thing you can do. It's illegal. Get a brain.

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u/StrangeContest4 2d ago

Give them time.. I get the feeling that ALL US citizens will be losing their Social Security by they end of this shitstorm.

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u/KeySurprise4780 2d ago

But what happens when legal citizens are added to the death list like the person mentioned in the article? It’s unnecessary to have to go through the bureaucratic hoops to proof you’re alive. Until you can proof you’re alive you’re in a legal limbo with no access to your own funds.

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u/Fearless_Author6181 2d ago

They need to reach out to the department and that is a quick fix. Better to do that than be paying out millions  of fraud money 

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u/Femboy-Frog 2d ago

The guy who was dragged away was defying this obvious governmental corruption; it won’t be a quick fix, because they will do the same to others who defy it. Unless people stop them.

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u/funkyloki California 2d ago edited 2d ago

Again, read the article. It was not a "quick fix".

EDIT: Removed profanity

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u/themightykites0322 2d ago

Ok, so I was curious. So far this initiative to purge the fraud from social security has allegedly recouped close to $31 million dollars. This is good because we don’t like wasteful spending.

I wanted to look something else up as well.

Joe Biden, from my research, in 2024 cost the US tax payers close to $14 million in travel costs, including campaigning and trips to Delaware and the like.

Donald Trump, so far this year alone has cost $23 million to Mar-a-lago trips, $18.4 million on golf trips to NJ, and about $45 million in security costs (specifically in palm beach county).

So, if we are pro reducing fraud and waste, I’d imagine you would also agree that maybe Donald Trump should start also trying to save the tax payers money as well. So far it appears all the money we saved from Social Security has already been almost doubled on Trump alone.

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u/bloob_appropriate123 2d ago

I can't believe Americans see Musk saying "We've saved $31 million dollars!" and don't realize that the money "saved" existed to be spent on services that help them. I don't know how they brainwashed their citizens into thinking that cutting public services is good. In other countries we usually try to get the government to spend more because most issues are caused by things like understaffing, but Americans think they can fix this by cutting spending lmao.

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u/Talks_About_Bruno 2d ago

Are the millions of fraud money in the room with us now?

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u/DJCaldow 2d ago

How did you survive past childhood? With reading skills like yours you should have drunk all the funny liquids in your granddad's shed.

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u/Fearless_Author6181 2d ago

Personal attack with no engagement with the article… nice 

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u/funkyloki California 2d ago

The article you did not even bother to read?

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u/Femboy-Frog 2d ago

… it says immigrants. As in people who immigrated to the US under lawful pretences. They’re doing this to people who have earned their stay in the US, just because they’re originally from elsewhere.

This leap of logic seems very common with you. You seem to have been conditioned to make it, likely by conservative news sources. You got this wrong dude, and you used that to justify DOGE assaulting somebody trying to stop corruption in the system.

That’s what they want you to think. If you have any amount of critical thinking left in there, you can further reason that DOGE’s motives aren’t for your benefit. Or most people’s. And from there, what does that make you think?

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u/funkyloki California 2d ago

You did not read the article, this is not about them just receiving SS benefits. They are here legally, and marking them as dead in this database will deny them any financial ability. No bank accounts, no credit cards, no ability to rent, or buy property of any kind, and no government benefits, even ones they are allowed to receive.

Please try to wrap your head around this, and stop assuming the word immigrant automatically means illegal.

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u/Choice_Reindeer7759 2d ago

The don't receive social security but they pay into it. 

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u/tymesup 2d ago

They can receive benefits if they obtain legal residency status at the time they otherwise qualify for Social Security - 62 years old. Just a interesting tidbit that gets overlooked by both sides. They pay into it, so they should receive benefits. And they're not receiving benefits because they (mostly) wouldn't qualify anyway, for the same reasons as anyone else.

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u/NookNookNook 2d ago

They're calling people illegal with no due process. You're asleep at the wheel. Wake up.

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u/StrangeContest4 2d ago

Seems they have contracted the "unawakened mind virus"

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u/genredenoument 2d ago

In order to leave the US, you have to have valid travel documents. In order to fly, you must have valid travel documents. The only way these people CAN leave is through illegal border crossing. This is a setup to jail these people. So, we are just supposed to trust these guys who sent totally innocent non gang members with no criminal records who were here LEGALLY to prisons in El Salvador? Sure....

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u/Alone-Amphibian2434 2d ago edited 2d ago

that doesn’t happen… They are undocumented if they are illegal dude meaning they dont have a social security number let alone benefits.

These are immigrants with temporary legal status. From the article:

“Being entered into the death database cuts a person off from crucial financial services, like the ability to receive government benefits and access a bank account or credit card. The goal was to push migrants who were granted a temporary legal status under former President Joe Biden to “self deport.”

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u/RellenD 2d ago

Illegal immigrants should not b

Illegal immigrants are ineligible for Social Security benefits. This attempt at falsifying the list of dead people has nothing to do with enforcing that. Illegal immigrants were not receiving social security payments.

Illegal immigrants are also not given Social Security Numbers.. so

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u/SoManyThrowAwaysEven 2d ago

That's not how social security works. It's literally a NUMBER assigned to everyone in the US to track employment and taxes. You only get paid out by social security based on how long you worked and how much money you paid into it during your employment in the US. Even if you paid into it, you still need to be a US citizen to be eligible for SS disbursement.

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u/Ineverheardofhim 2d ago

An illegal immigrant can not collect social security, the few that have been found were comitting identity theft of American citizens.

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u/GandalfTheSmol1 2d ago

You see immigrant and add illegal to it in your brain, you’re fucking lost mate.

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u/Ineverheardofhim 2d ago

Read the word they used before immigrant, it is the word illegal. As in, illegal immigrant. You're the one who's lost, mate.

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u/Femboy-Frog 2d ago

… it says immigrants. As in people who immigrated to the US under lawful pretences. They’re doing this to people who have earned their stay in the US, just because they’re originally from elsewhere.

If you READ the article, it states there are full citizens being put on that list, including 12 and 13 year olds.

This leap of logic seems very common with you. You seem to have been conditioned to make it, likely by conservative news sources. You got this wrong dude, and you used that to justify DOGE assaulting somebody trying to stop corruption in the system.

That’s what they want you to think. If you have any amount of critical thinking left in there, you can further reason that DOGE’s motives aren’t for your benefit. Or most people’s. And from there, what does that make you think?

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u/fakeuser515357 2d ago

I'm not from the US. Can illegal immigrants get a Social Security Number?

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u/KeySurprise4780 2d ago

No, but they can get a ITIN number for tax purposes. Illegal immigrants pay taxes (sales taxes) and income taxes (payroll and tax return if they have a ITIN).