Trump Fundraising Email Falsely Claims Biden's Immigration Policies Will ‘Destroy’ Social Security

Former President Donald Trump claimed in a fundraising email on Sunday that President Joe Biden “flipped the bird to every senior citizen” because giving legal status to undocumented immigrants will “destroy” Social Security.

“Biden’s Border BLOODBATH is bringing crime. It’s bringing VIOLENCE. But the next target? YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY!” the email reads. “Friend, the Democrat push to give MASS AMNESTY to millions of illegals will DESTROY Social Security.”

The message, from Trump’s campaign committee and the Republican National Committee, offers a misleading impression about how immigration affects Social Security. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible to receive Social Security retirement benefits, but many nevertheless pay into the Social Security system through payroll deductions.

“It’s misdirection and fearmongering to take people’s eye off the fact that Trump and his billionaires are the ones plotting to destroy Social Security, day and night,” said Alex Lawson, executive director of the progressive group Social Security Works.

The data clearly shows that undocumented immigrants are beneficial to Social Security’s finances, rather than harmful. In 2010, 3.1 million undocumented immigrants contributed $13 billion in payroll taxes to Social Security without the opportunity to claim benefits, according to a 2013 estimate by Stephen Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration.

Even plans to provide undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship as part of comprehensive immigration reform are projected to have an ameliorative effect on Social Security’s finances. The bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill of 2013, for example, which tied so-called amnesty to stricter border enforcement