The Social Security Administration has made major updates to millions of records in its system on issues ranging from citizenship status of death dates, the agency announced on Tuesday morning.
Specifically, the SSA said that 25 million records now have filled in “missing citizenship information,” logged 17 million death dates by looking at information the SSA already had, along with help from the State Department.
Rooting out fraud starts with accurate records. Under @POTUS leadership, SSA has corrected nearly 15% of active SSNs, the most comprehensive SSN record clean-up in agency history: ✅ 17M missing dates of death added ✅ 25M records with missing citizenship info updated 🔄 8.5M inaccurate citizenship records being corrected Find more results here: https://t.co/42cpXcuvhK
— Social Security (@SocialSecurity) October 20, 2026
In addition, the agency said it is fixing 8.5 million records that do not have the right “citizenship status” listed, according to a press release.
“The Social Security Number database is our country’s books and records. The database’s accuracy is essential to maintaining integrity of government services for citizens. Accurate SSN records prevent fraud across federal programs and support the proper administration of benefits,” Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said in a statement.
“This is the first time SSA has undertaken an effort of this scale, and I am proud of the work we have done to strengthen the foundation of identity data relied upon throughout government and the economy,” he continued.
The announcement comes as part of a larger initiative from the Trump administration to be able to cross-check records to prevent fraud, including an abuse of social programs meant to help lawfully qualifying individuals.
Last week, the SSA said there would be a 3.6 percent uptick in payments in 2027 for Americans that get social security payouts.