Social media has been abuzz with claims that benefits given to illegal immigrants exceed monthly Social Security benefits. Many posts shared across social media platforms, primarily on Facebook and X, repeat the same claim, verbatim: “When the average Social Security check is $1200 a month and each illegal receives $4000 a month, we’ve got a problem.”
The claim was shared by prominent social media accounts including “Republican Patriots,” which has 1.2 million Facebook followers.
The claims are false, as both amounts—$1,200 a month for Social Security payments and $4,000 for illegal immigrants–-are inaccurate.
The average monthly benefits given to Social Security recipients is nearly 50 percent more than social media users claimed. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), recipients received a monthly average of $1,783.55 this past August. The SSA distributed $121.41 billion total to 68.07 million beneficiaries that month.
Nor is “each illegal immigrant” receiving $4,000 a month. This incorrect claim’s origin likely traces back to a pilot program administered by New York City giving migrant families a one-time payment of $4,000 to assist them in paying for permanent housing. Created in December 2023, the program—administered by New York City’s Department of Homeless Services and officially dubbed the Asylee Movement Assistant program—has provided grants to 150 migrant families and carries strict eligibility requirements.
In order to receive the $4,000 benefit, the applicant must be an asylum-seeking migrant family or a pregnant woman, reside in select emergency housing shelters operated by the city government agency, and have already identified a permanent housing site.
The program’s recipients are also required to record their expenses and can only spend the $4,000 on select expenses: Moving costs, security deposits, the first and last monthly rent, and household necessities. (However, it is unclear what qualifies for household necessities.)
“This is a very small pilot only available to asylum-seeking families in select emergency shelters operated by DHS,” a New York City government spokesperson told Fox News. “This is not a citywide effort and not available to migrant families residing across the shelter system.”
The Dispatch Fact Check has reached out to the New York City Department of Homeless Services and will update this piece if we get a response.
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