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| - In May 2026, social media users alleged U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in 1996, "The No. 1 reason people come to the U.S. illegally is to defraud systems like Social Security and I want to stop it." At the time, Schumer served as a member of the House of Representatives.
For example, users shared the quote in an image meme on Facebook, Reddit and X, as well as in the text captions appearing above user-created video clips on C-SPAN.org and iHeart.com.
(David J. Harris Jr. accessed via Facebook)
In short, Schumer did not say this, so we've rated this an incorrect attribution.
This rumor pertained to remarks Schumer delivered on the House floor on March 19, 1996, concerning a bill about immigration policies. Schumer's genuine statement — beginning at the 7:50:45 mark in a C-SPAN video and transcribed in full later in this article — supported an amendment to the legislation.
In the video recorded on the House floor, Schumer mentions the role of employers asking for Social Security cards in hiring practices, then says, "This is an anti-fraud amendment. All over where we go, people say, 'Well, why can't you stop illegal immigrants or others from coming here?'" Schumer continued, "And the No. 1 answer we give our constituents is, 'When they come here, they can get jobs, get benefits against the law, because of fraud.'"
The context of Schumer's remarks — like similar comments from Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., the amendment's sponsor — showed he was expressing concerns about immigrants engaging in document fraud with counterfeit Social Security cards. He did not say that the No. 1 reason immigrants travel to the U.S. is because they seek to defraud the country.
The text in the alleged quote originated in an X post (archived) from April 2025, displaying that user's interpretation of Schumer's comments. The post received nearly 35 million views.
Snopes contacted Schumer's office by email to ask about his thoughts regarding the inaccurate quote meme and will update this article if we receive further information.
How the misquote evolved
Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo, as well as reverse image searches, helped to locate numerous posts containing the inauthentic Schumer quote — including a Reddit user's comment (archived) pointing to the very popular X post from April 2025.
That X user's text caption began with a summary reading, "1996: Chuck Schumer explains 'the number one reason' illegals come to the U.S. is so they can defraud programs like Social Security — and wants to stop it." The post's text caption also later accurately quoted the accompanying video showing Schumer's actual remarks.
Other users subsequently shared that same summary as a meme on Facebook, TikTok and X, reading, "1996: Chuck Schumer explains 'the number one reason' people come to the U.S. illegally is so they can defraud programs like Social Security and wants to stop it."
Following those posts, users then shared the newer meme reading, "Chuck Schumer in 1996: 'The #1 reason people come to the U.S. illegally is to defraud systems like Social Security and I want to stop it.'" Users falsely attributed as a direct quote from Schumer what actually originated as an X user's summary.
Schumer's words, in context
Schumer's 1996 remarks concerned a House report, specifically its fourth amendment to the bill, titled, "Protecting the Integrity of the Social Security Account Number Card."
The discussion about the amendment begins at the 7:21:34 mark in a C-SPAN video. McCollum, the Florida representative, introduces the amendment, describing his proposal as making "the Social Security card as counterfeit-proof as the $100 bill," adding the effort would "control illegal immigration in this country and make employer sanctions work."
McCollum specifically zeroes in on those sanctions, regarding employers hiring people who present counterfeit Social Security card after illegally crossing into the U.S.:
Well, how do you stop that? What's causing people to come? Well, I'd submit the reason people are coming here to this country is something we've known for a long time: jobs, to get a job. The only way that we're going to stop people from coming here is by cutting off the magnet of jobs. No matter how many Border Patrol we put up in the border, and I'm all for doing that, we'll never completely stop it.
McCollum later adds (emphasis ours):
And the way that we have to make this work is to make an act provision from 1986, a current law, operable. It is now against the law for an employer to knowingly hire an illegal alien. It has been for 10 years. The problem is document fraud.
Schumer's remarks begin around the 7:50:45 mark in the C-SPAN video. His full remarks transpired as follows (emphasis ours):
Thank the gentleman, salute him for his work on this, rise in the support of the amendment. First of all, Social Security card is used from one end of America to the other as an identification card right now, but who are we kidding? If you want to pass a law and says, "It shouldn't be," I would ask the chairman and the distinguished minority member of the Social Security committee to pass that law. But let's admit the truth. Everywhere people go they're asked for a Social Security card. In fact, one way to prove you're a bona fide person who can have a job is to ask for a driver's license and a Social Security card.
This is an anti-fraud amendment. All over where we go, people say, "Well, why can't you stop illegal immigrants or others from coming here?" And the No. 1 answer we give our constituents is, "When they come here, they can get jobs, get benefits against the law, because of fraud."
And here, the gentleman from Florida has put together the most effective anti-fraud measure we can find without it changing the actions of the government one bit. And we find all this opposition.
Ladies and gentlemen of this chamber, what I worry about is that this bill — which started out with good intentions, whether you agree with it or disagree with it — is going to end up being the same kind of thing that the public gets angry with us on. We say we're doing something and we do nothing, because every time someone makes a rational and small proposal to get something done, people say, "Well what about this hypothetical, that hypothetical, etc."
I urge support of this amendment. If you believe you want to stop fraud in immigration, you have no choice but to support this amendment.
According to the Congressional Record, a roll call vote ultimately rejected McCollum's amendment.
For further reading, we previously investigated whether Schumer's wife, Iris Weinshall, owned a cleaning company where a Labor Department investigation found that nearly 80% of employees used fake work papers.
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