In a bombshell disclosure, Elon Musk revealed during a recent town hall that an astonishing 2.1 million non-citizens were issued Social Security numbers in 2024 alone — a spike he and DOGE colleague Antonio Gracias say is tied to Biden-era immigration loopholes.

Speaking at the America PAC event, Musk and longtime friend Gracias walked the audience through what they uncovered inside the Social Security Administration after beginning a top-down investigation into government waste, fraud, and abuse. According to Gracias, the number of non-citizens receiving SSNs jumped from 270,000 in 2021 to more than two million last year — a nearly eightfold increase.

Gracias emphasized that his concern wasn’t political, but factual — and that frontline SSA employees were the ones who first raised the alarm. “There’s a lot of great people there that showed us a lot of waste,” he said. “But this is what jumped out at us.”

So how did it happen?

Gracias broke down the process that was allegedly exploited during the Biden years. He explained that migrants crossing into the country — either at ports of entry claiming asylum or walking across and receiving administrative citations rather than criminal charges — were released and told to await immigration court hearings, which could take six years due to a massive backlog and just 700 judges.

Once inside the U.S., those migrants were eligible to file Form I-765 for a work permit. Upon approval, they received a Form I-766 — and that automatically triggered the Social Security Administration to mail them an official SSN, Gracias said.

“No interview. No ID,” he added. “Just paperwork and a green light.”

While critics might write off the claims as political grandstanding, Gracias pointed out that the surge in numbers was documented and undeniable. Musk and DOGE are reportedly working with Congress to review internal policy changes that allowed this surge and whether the administration violated federal law or overstepped executive boundaries.

The revelation has added new fuel to the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown, which has included record ICE interior enforcement, border-wide deportations, and now, a potential investigation into federal agencies that may have facilitated illegal entry benefits without proper verification.

For many conservatives, the issue strikes at the heart of fairness, security, and sovereignty — especially if those numbers are linked to other federal benefits or potential voter registration.

As Musk put it bluntly earlier this month: “If we’re going to have a country, we have to have borders. And if we’re going to have borders, they have to mean something.”