In significant developments regarding waste identified by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), it was revealed in a striking announcement on X (formerly Twitter) that the agency uncovered an astonishing $400 million in unemployment insurance fraud, with a substantial portion—approximately 75%—attributed to several blue states.
To provide context, DOGE has been meticulously examining federal expenditures to identify waste, fraud, and abuse that could be eliminated to benefit taxpayers. While some outrageous and amusing instances, such as a contract for watering plants, have garnered considerable attention, the primary focus of DOGE is to uncover inefficiencies within America’s extensive entitlement and welfare programs that could be reduced.
Given the sheer scale of these programs, such as Social Security, even minor instances of fraud can result in significant financial losses. For instance, DOGE has estimated that foreign fraud syndicates may have pilfered nearly a trillion dollars from Social Security, largely unnoticed due to the program’s vast size.
Currently, DOGE is investigating the unemployment insurance program, where it has predictably discovered extensive fraud. On April 9, DOGE reported its findings from a preliminary review of unemployment insurance claims since 2020, highlighting bizarre cases of individuals who are impossibly old or young, including those not yet born, who have fraudulently claimed benefits. The report detailed: “An initial survey of Unemployment Insurance claims since 2020 revealed the following: – 24,500 individuals over 115 years old claimed $59 million in benefits – 28,000 individuals aged between 1 and 5 years claimed $254 million in benefits – 9,700 individuals with birth dates set more than 15 years in the future claimed $69 million in benefits. In one instance, an individual with a birth date in 2154 claimed $41,000.”
Elon Musk, in a quote tweet addressing the absurdity and frustration of DOGE’s findings, remarked, “Your tax dollars were going to pay fraudulent unemployment claims for fake people born in the future! This is so crazy that I had to read it several times.”Subsequently, DOGE, in a follow-up quote tweet to its initial post, revealed that three significant blue states were primarily responsible for a substantial portion of the fraudulent activities. It highlighted that California alone accounted for more than a supermajority of the improper payments made to individuals on the terror watchlist and those with criminal records.
In that tweet, it stated, “California, New York, and Massachusetts were responsible for the majority of these improper claims, amounting to $305 million in unemployment benefits. Furthermore, California represented 68% of the unemployment benefits disbursed to parolees identified by CBP as being on the terrorist watchlist or having criminal records.”
One commenter on the post pointed out the apparent connection between sanctuary cities and the fraud, stating, “Isn’t it interesting that the three states with the most infamous sanctuary cities in the country also claimed the highest amount of unemployment benefits fraudulently? It seems unlikely that this is merely a coincidence; it certainly appears that illegal immigrants are receiving taxpayer-funded benefits.”
Another commenter on the DOGE post remarked on the political context of these states, saying, “Are you really surprised that California, New York, and Massachusetts are at the forefront of fraudulent activities in various sectors? Who holds the political power in these states?”
