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For Immediate Release
March, 03 2025, 03:37pm EDT
Contact:
Linda Benesch, lbenesch@socialsecurityworks.org
Elon Musk is Dismantling Social Security
The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works:
“Elon Musk slandered Social Security over the weekend by calling the vital and beloved program a criminal Ponzi scheme, the same lie Donald Trump used before he decided to run for president. Musk’s comment is no surprise, given his recent actions to begin the wholesale dismantling of our Social Security system. Social Security is overwhelmingly popular among all Americans, including those who consider themselves die-hard Trump supporters.
Trump knows that. Last year, he blanketed swing states with flyers promising that he would protect Social Security – despite the fact that he proposed Social Security cuts in every one of his first-term budgets. Musk and Trump want to undermine support for our Social Security system by convincing the American people that this extremely efficiently run program is rife with fraud, waste, and abuse. Even worse, they want to make it impossible for America’s working families to access their earned benefits. At Musk’s direction, the Trump administration is planning to lay off a substantial part of the already understaffed and overworked Social Security Administration workforce.
A large number of senior staff have already been pushed out, taking with them essential institutional knowledge. Moreover, Trump and Musk have announced their intention to close every Social Security field office, so that no one can claim their earned benefits in person. That will increase fraud, since historically it has been caught by those who meet with the public face to face. It will also make it impossible for many Americans to get the support they need to access their benefits. These layoffs are so destabilizing that it is even possible that Americans may see a disruption in their monthly payments.
Reinforcing Musk’s lies, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) recently said that Musk’s algorithms are crawling through our personal Social Security data and finding ‘enormous amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse.’ That is yet another lie. Musk is the one creating waste, fraud, and abuse. He is stealing our data and firing the public servants who make Social Security work. If Congress does not act soon to stop him, our Social Security system may never recover.”
Social Security Works' mission is to: Protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations; Safeguard the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security; and Maintain Social Security as a vehicle of social justice.
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As the Trump administration continued its illegal freeze on food assistance, the US Department of Agriculture sent a warning to grocery stores not to provide discounts to the more than 42 million Americans affected.
Several grocery chains and food delivery apps have announced in recent days that they would provide substantial discounts to those whose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits have been delayed. More than 1 in 8 Americans rely on the program, and 39% of them are children.
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Immigration agents are using facial recognition software as "definitive" evidence to determine immigration status and is collecting data from US citizens without their consent. In some cases, agents may detain US citizens, including ones who can provide their birth certificates, if the app says they are in the country illegally.
These are a few of the findings from a series of articles published this past week by 404 Media, which has obtained documents and video evidence showing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are using a smartphone app in the field during immigration stops, scanning the faces of people on the street to verify their citizenship.
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While it is not clear what application the agencies are using, 404 previously reported that ICE is using an app called Mobile Fortify that allows ICE to simply point a camera at a person on the street. The photos are then compared with a bank of more than 200 million images and dozens of government databases to determine info about the person, including their name, date of birth, nationality, and information about their immigration status.
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On Wednesday, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), told 404 that ICE agents will even trust the app's results over a person's government documents.
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