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US Politics

Millions of legal immigrants’ lives upended after social security freeze

Guardian
Summary
Nutrition label

78% Informative

The Enumeration Beyond Entry program is an agreement between the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security .

The program began in 2017 under the first Trump administration.

Without any public notice, on 19 March , the program was halted, affecting millions of immigrants every year .

Those applicants will now have to apply separately to receive a social security number.

In fiscal year 2024 , 3.24 m initial employment authorization documents were approved by US Citizenship and Immigration Services .

The costs of issuing a social security number through this program in the same year was $ 8 per issuance, compared with $ 55.80 in a field office.

Field offices are operating with reduced staff, as the Social Security Administration sought to cut staff by at least 12% .

Doge has terminated leases for at least 47 offices at the agency.

VR Score

75

Informative language

73

Neutral language

21

Article tone

semi-formal

Language

English

Language complexity

72

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

14

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/preventing-illegal-aliens-from-obtaining-social-security-act-benefits/https://crr.bc.edu/the-truth-about-immigrants-medicare-and-social-security/https://apnews.com/article/social-security-offices-closures-doge-trump-b2b1a5b2ba4fb968abc3379bf90715ffhttps://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0110205700https://popular.info/p/exclusive-secret-policy-shift-couldhttps://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-7-part-a-chapter-5#:~:text=All%20adjustment%20of%20status%20applicants,certain%20adjustment%20of%20status%20applicants.https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-wants-terminate-legal-immigrants-002510588.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACjChSZLARhSiHDKdJjzSEYc7Tb1pibRKvZ4jANxaEfG6GqBrjqhWtafpp-qySX__4Vxyo_pfmy8DojWXGuOnwzskam9vmi2t4U47G5vnss0Gr3xAghPX8EQrTxYTB8Diir_28YBR00sE88fM24A4t0VUmvNmfCkh06DdWQixG7hhttps://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/social-security-service-restrictions-burden-seniors-with-long-unnecessaryhttps://www.americanprogress.org/article/cuts-to-the-social-security-administration-threaten-millions-of-americans-retirement-and-disability-benefits/https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/migrants-social-security-numbers/https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6403https://itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-2024/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-doge-social-security-data-elevate-claims-against-migrants/https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-765.pdf

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