Social Security is a major source of income for most people over age 65. Nearly nine out of ten people
age 65 and older were receiving a Social Security benefit as of December 31, 2024. According to research using 2015 data, Social Security benefits represent about 31% of the income of people over age 65. Among Social Security beneficiaries age 65 and older, 39% of men and 44% of women receive 50% or more of their income from Social Security, and 12% of men and 15% of women rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income.

This program is obviously critical to the country’s aging population. But there are concerns that funding for Social Security is running out (Social Security Report Projects Shortfall by 2034).

According to a recent article by the USAFacts team (Is Social Security running out? | USAFacts), there are several issues that are contributing to the depletion of funds :

• The US population is getting older
• People in the US are living longer into retirement
• The US birth rates have been declining
• The US death rates have been declining (with the exception of the pandemic years)

There is an additional factor that has recently stepped further into the spotlight: Undocumented foreign workers and documented, temporary foreign workers pay into Social Security and Medicare, but do not receive benefits.

According to a June 2025 report by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants – ITEP), in 2022 undocumented immigrants contributed $32.3 billion to Federal Social Insurance Taxes (includes both worker and employer shares of Social Security and Medicare taxes, as well as the federal portion of Unemployment Insurance taxes).

The amount of collected taxes from documented foreign workers is not reported separately, so there aren’t concrete numbers to share. However, there is some information on one sector of this demographic – Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders. According to the National Immigration Forum’s TPS Fact Sheet (Temporary Protected Status (TPS): Fact Sheet – National Immigration Forum), TPS will end for almost 1,000,000 people by December 2025 (this number could change, pending ongoing litigation for some Venezuelan TPS holders). The Social Security and Medicare contributions of TPS holders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti – currently just over 500,000 people – is estimated to be more than $6.9 billion over a 10 year span.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes that “The Social Security Administration (SSA) assumes average net immigration of about 1.2 million people per year in its projections.” (Immigrants Contribute Greatly to the Social Security Trust Fund’s Solvency | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities). The Trump administration has halted almost all legal immigration to the US, and has expressed a goal of deporting 1,000,000 current immigrants by the end of the year. These goals will undoubtedly have a significant negative effect on Social Security’s financial outlook.

What can you do?

• Continue to call your representatives at all levels of government.
• Educate yourself further on these issues. Several of the links above include additional suggested resources.
• Support advocacy groups for Social Security, such as the AARP (Social Security – News, Tools, and Resources)
• Support advocacy groups for Immigration, such as Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates (Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates) or the Michigan Immigration Rights Center (Latest Updates/ Últimas Novedades | Michigan Immigrant Rights Center)

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash