Investigative journalist Paul Sperry, Senior reporter http://RealClearInvestigations.com highlights an emerging Trump administration initiative targeting immigration-related Social Security fraud. According to the post, President Trump implied that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is developing an algorithm to identify Social Security numbers being used by illegal aliens and immigrants illegally enrolled in Social Security programs. Sperry reports Trump stating that "those people will have to be weeded out," noting that many are located in California.
This aligns with the administration's broader April 2025 Presidential Memorandum "Preventing Illegal Aliens from Obtaining Social Security Act Benefits," which sought to stop ineligible aliens from receiving Social Security Act benefits by expanding fraud prosecutor programs and investigating earnings reports for individuals aged 100+ with mismatched records. However, DOGE's activities at the Social Security Administration have faced scrutiny, with court filings revealing that DOGE employees shared sensitive personal records on unauthorized private servers and allegedly marked over 6,000 immigrants as "dead" in Social Security records to pressure self-deportation—a move described by critics as "financial murder."
On February 25, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a major coordinated initiative to combat health care fraud, unveiled at the White House by Vice President J.D. Vance, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. The administration is replacing the traditional "pay and chase" model with a "detect and deploy" strategy using advanced AI tools to identify fraud in real-time.
- Minnesota Medicaid Deferral: Withholding $259.5 million in quarterly federal Medicaid funding from Minnesota due to "unsupported or potentially fraudulent claims" involving personal care services and home-based care. CMS cited unusually high spending growth and program integrity failures.
- DMEPOS Moratorium: A six-month nationwide moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for certain durable medical equipment suppliers, building on $1.5 billion in suspected fraudulent billing prevented in 2024.
- CRUSH Initiative: The Comprehensive Regulations to Uncover Suspicious Healthcare request for stakeholder input on preventing fraud across Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP.
- DMEPOS Moratorium: A six-month nationwide moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for certain durable medical equipment suppliers, building on $1.5 billion in suspected fraudulent billing prevented in 2024.
- CRUSH Initiative: The Comprehensive Regulations to Uncover Suspicious Healthcare request for stakeholder input on preventing fraud across Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP.
The administration emphasizes that 2025 efforts already yielded significant results: suspending $5.7 billion in suspected fraudulent Medicare payments, denying over 122,000 improper claims, and revoking 5,586 providers' billing privileges.
Minnesota has responded aggressively, with Attorney General Keith Ellison filing a federal lawsuit on March 2, 2026, accusing the Trump administration of "weaponizing Medicaid against Minnesota as political punishment." The state argues the funding freeze violates due process and could force cuts to health services for 1.2 million low-income residents. The lawsuit represents the latest escalation in a conflict that has included federal immigration raids and multiple legal challenges between the Democratic-led state and the Republican administration.
Both the CMS actions and the DOGE Social Security initiatives reflect the administration's centralization of fraud detection using AI and data analytics—a strategy that supporters praise for protecting taxpayer dollars while critics warn risks privacy violations and political targeting. As these programs expand, ongoing litigation will likely define the boundaries of executive authority over federal benefits administration.
