Want to save Social Security? Legalize undocumented immigrant workers.

A 2026 report by the trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund, which pays retirement and survivor benefits, is on track for depletion in 2032.

This will trigger an automatic 23% cut in monthly benefit checks. Medicare’s Hospital Insurance fund similarly is headed for depletion in 2033, paying out 89 cents on the dollar.

Social Security is in peril because the program is paying out more than it collects. This is a result of shifting demographics, including a huge increase in the number of retiring baby boomers, longer life expectancies and lower fertility rates.

These trends diminish the number of workers supporting each retiree and are intensified by draconian immigration restrictions and mass deportations. The cap on earnings subject to the Social Security tax and the rapid concentration of income among top earners also have allowed a massive chunk of U.S. wealth to escape the tax entirely.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s tax deduction of up to $6,000 for seniors also has choked off a vital Social Security Trust Fund revenue stream.

Congress is talking about rescuing Social Security and Medicare but focusing on raising tax rates and retirement ages or slashing benefits. It is time to wake up and view the issue through an immigration lens because undocumented workers are among the most prolific yet least-compensated contributors to these programs.

This perspective leads to the inescapable conclusion that we should create legal pathways to citizenship for the millions of undocumented workers who are present in the country and pose no genuine safety risk.

How undocumented workers prop up retiree benefits

Undocumented workers pump billions into Social Security and Medicare funding but are legally barred from collecting a dime from either program.

According to 2024 data from the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), they paid $25.7 billion into Social Security and $6.4 billion into Medicare in 2022 alone. (And that doesn’t include deductions for workers who are paid “off the books”).

That money was withheld from the paycheck of every immigrant who worked under a borrowed or fabricated Social Security number, at the rate of 7.65%, matched by the employer, and funneled into the same trust fund that pays our benefits.

Although about a third of every tax dollar paid by undocumented immigrants props up these programs, the law bars them from receiving Social Security and Medicare. Thus, these payroll taxes are essentially a one-way transfer from some of our lowest-paid workers to our retirees.

Now imagine giving those same workers legal status. The ITEP estimates their tax contributions would jump by $40.2 billion a year to $136.9 billion, most of which would flow to the federal government.

Undocumented workers pump billions into Social Security and Medicare funding but are legally barred from collecting a dime from either program.

According to 2024 data from the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), they paid $25.7 billion into Social Security and $6.4 billion into Medicare in 2022 alone. (And that doesn’t include deductions for workers who are paid “off the books”).

That money was withheld from the paycheck of every immigrant who worked under a borrowed or fabricated Social Security number, at the rate of 7.65%, matched by the employer, and funneled into the same trust fund that pays our benefits.

Although about a third of every tax dollar paid by undocumented immigrants props up these programs, the law bars them from receiving Social Security and Medicare. Thus, these payroll taxes are essentially a one-way transfer from some of our lowest-paid workers to our retirees.

Now imagine giving those same workers legal status. The ITEP estimates their tax contributions would jump by $40.2 billion a year to $136.9 billion, most of which would flow to the federal government.

Providing work authorization to undocumented immigrants would greatly expand the revenue base because legally authorized workers earn more and get paid on the books, maximizing accurate tax compliance and increasing the number of contributors.

Moreover, because immigrants are more likely to be of working age and have higher rates of labor force participation than U.S.-born workers overall, they will help rebalance America’s aging population. They will replace retirees and improve the worker-to-retiree ratio on which Social Security depends.

Finally, the taxes withheld from the paychecks of immigrants who work with false or mismatched Social Security numbers will stop vanishing into an earnings “suspense” file, which holds $2.4 trillion now linked to uncredited wage records.

Here’s an argument for math nerds — and patriots

This is a call for clear-eyed, data-driven, patriotic realism. The Social Security trustees’ report highlights how immigration improves the trust fund’s solvency and how we need more workers to pay into the system, not fewer.

Deporting or marginalizing millions of contributing undocumented workers who cannot receive benefits themselves will accelerate the insolvency of the trust fund.

To be clear, rational immigration reform does not require open borders — but creating a path to citizenship for otherwise law-abiding immigrants who are already here makes compelling economic sense.