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

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

THE ANSWER

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

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. 

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.

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.