The Social Security Administration (SSA) says it has carried out the largest cleanup of its records in the agency's 91-year history. It says it has corrected nearly 15% of all active Social Security numbers in a database of nearly 390 million records 2.
The agency, led by Commissioner Frank Bisignano, said it added 17 million dates of death to records that had none. It used the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) SAVE service to fill in citizenship information on about 25 million records. It is also still correcting another 8.5 million records it says list the wrong citizenship status 23.
On Friday, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, a seniors' advocacy group, said the effort worries it. The group argues that the DHS tool has a poor track record, and that mistakes in it could carry over into the records Social Security uses to decide who gets paid 1.
What the agency says
Bisignano presented the work as a way to fight fraud. Other federal and state agencies rely on Social Security records to confirm people's identities 3. The agency also said it has added "stronger internal controls to prevent inaccuracies due to manual data entry" 4.
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The Social Security Number database is our country's books and records.
The SSA did not say why so many records needed fixing 4. It also has not said whose records were changed or how people will be told if their citizenship status was updated.
Why advocates are uneasy
SAVE is a federal database that is about 40 years old. It was built to check the immigration status of noncitizens who apply for public benefits. Last year, DHS overhauled it, connected it to Social Security records for the first time, and encouraged states to run their full voter rolls through it 5.
The record so far is mixed at best. In Texas, SAVE flagged 2,724 of about 18 million registered voters as possible noncitizens. According to the Texas Secretary of State's office, about 20% of those flagged later turned out to be citizens and were put back on the rolls 5. NPR also reported that SAVE has been unable to confirm the citizenship of some foreign-born people who later became citizens 5.
The SAVE database is notorious for having inaccurate data
In June, federal Judge Sparkle Sooknanan blocked the expanded system. She found that the way it pooled and shared sensitive data violated the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act, and wrote that the government "has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens" 5. In September, the Supreme Court let the administration keep using the system for now while the case goes on. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, warning of the "harms that might occur if the modified SAVE system is allowed to continue operating" 5.
Why this matters for older Americans
There is a reason the gaps exist, and it reaches back decades. Congress told SSA to establish citizenship for new applicants in 1972, and the agency began collecting it from all applicants in 1978. As the Brennan Center for Justice put it, "the database does not have comprehensive citizenship information for Americans born before 1978" 6.
That matters for anyone born before 1978. The agency has not said how many of the 25 million records it filled in belong to older Americans. But a person who got a card in the 1960s, or a naturalized citizen who never told Social Security they became a citizen, is the kind of record a cleanup like this would touch 6. The Brennan Center has also written that SAVE's results "have never been perfect" 6.
Everyone wants accuracy, but this administration has a track record of carelessness with people's personal data
The advocates also question whether the agency has the staff to do this carefully. Their post notes that Social Security lost workers to firings and buyouts, and that customer service in field offices and on the 1-800 line has suffered 1.
A pattern Democrats have flagged
This is not the first time the handling of Social Security data has been questioned. Spectrum News noted that concerns go back to an August 2025 whistleblower complaint from the agency's former chief data officer, Charles Borges. The complaint alleged that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) copied a database of Social Security numbers, names, addresses and birth dates to a separate cloud system 4.
In March, at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., pressed Bisignano about data breaches allegedly linked to DOGE. According to the National Committee's account, Bisignano declined to address them and suggested they talk about it later 8.
personal data and information are being pored over by outside groups that are unaccountable
In May, Senate Democrats sent letters, led by Sens. Gary Peters, Alex Padilla, Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer and joined by Sen. Maria Cantwell, urging Social Security to stop sharing its data for voter checks. They wrote: "SSA data is already at the core of the overhauled SAVE program at DHS," and they called the agency "an unreliable source for information on U.S. citizenship" 7.
The pattern is this. The administration says its data is now more accurate. Critics, including Democrats in Congress, have said for more than a year that the tools and shortcuts it uses can create new mistakes. Republicans control the House and Senate, so the committees that could demand answers are in GOP hands. Whether anyone gets a public accounting of whose records changed may depend on who holds Congress after Nov. 3.
The Record
- The Brennan Center warns that SAVE is not a complete list of citizens and that Social Security lacks full citizenship data for Americans born before 1978 6.
- Senate Democrats urge Social Security to stop sharing data for voter checks, calling it "an unreliable source for information on U.S. citizenship" 7.
- NPR reports the Supreme Court has let the overhauled SAVE system, which a lower court found violated privacy laws, be used for now 5.
- Social Security announces it added 17 million death dates and updated citizenship data on about 25 million records using SAVE, with 8.5 million more being corrected 3.
- The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare warns that SAVE errors could carry into Social Security files and lead to eligible citizens being denied benefits 1.
Sources
- National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, “SSA is "Fixing" Social Security Data; That Worries Us” (2026-10-23). ncpssm.org/entitledtoknow/ssa-is-fixing-social-security-data
- CPA Practice Advisor (al.com / Tribune News Service), “Massive Update Includes Nearly 15% of All Active Social Security Numbers, Agency Says” (2026-10-21). cpapracticeadvisor.com/2026/10/21/massive-update-includes-ne
- Townhall, “Social Security Administration Fixes Millions of Records, Agency Announces” (2026-10-20). townhall.com/news/cameron-arcand/2026/10/20/social-security-
- Spectrum News, “Social Security Administration details massive records cleanup” (2026-10-21). spectrumlocalnews.com/us/snplus/politics/2026/10/21/social-s
- NPR (via MPR News), “The Supreme Court revives a controversial data system for citizenship checks” (2026-09-25). mprnews.org/story/2026/09/25/npr-supreme-court-trump-save-no
- Brennan Center for Justice, “Homeland Security's 'SAVE' Program Exacerbates Risks to Voters” (2025-07-21). brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/homeland-securit
- Capitol Releases (Sen. Maria Cantwell press release), “Senate Democrats' letters to DHS and SSA on SAVE and voter citizenship data” (2026-05-01). capitolreleases.com/releases/913c3177-40a4-4c36-8729-b9b5f48
- National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, “Social Security Commissioner Fails to Reassure Lawmakers About Data Breaches” (2026-03-10). ncpssm.org/entitledtoknow/social-security-commissioner-fails
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