Undocumented immigrant parents will be reluctant to go to the social security office where they will be immediately handed over to ice and their babies taken away. This is sick and immoral. Maine lawmakers should resist.
Which one of these offices will be left after the others are closed down. And how long will it take to get an appointment at the one with limited hours?
"A list of more than 400 properties to close or sell was posted on the GSA website Tuesday. (The list disappeared by Weds)
"It included the Edmund S. Muskie Federal Building in Augusta (the capitol city's central post office), the SSA office in Presque Isle, & the U.S. Custom House in Portland."
That's the property sell-off which will definitely affect SSA offices. They are also threatening to close SSA offices that might be within buildings or rentals they are retaining.
For those who haven't visited northern Maine, there are a lot of folks who drive 3-4 hours one way once a month to stock up at Bangor Sam's & Walmart & visit their doctors. This "present your baby for inspection at the SSA office (if you can locate it)" will kill people.
I'm in Memphis, but lived in Maine for five years. Arrived there in the middle of a howling blizzard -- in April. During a different blizzard, it took me 45 minutes to drive the 3 miles home from work. And I lived in a major city! Maine weather can and has shut down the entire state. It's no joke.
In central Maine we had a warm rain melting off the snow all day, while my colleagues in the County were hunkered down bc outside was a sleety skating rink. Imagine being young &/or in a precarious situation and having to drive ~100 miles to get your newborn recognized as a human.
This also affects maga mom and dad. They too will have to drive to a Social Security office and wait in a long line along with all the other new parents.
magas never think it will affect them until it does and they are always surprised.
Remember “they” are cutting staff at Social Security.
Who will be available to process all these additional in-person requests?
If this is meant to be efficient, I have a bridge to sell ya.
These children were born in U.S. hospitals. Unless their parents are foreign diplomats or occupying soldiers, they're U.S. citizens. The government is literally harassing the parents of newborns.
Why do I get the sinking feeling this is more about undocumented immigrants and visitors who give birth in US getting caught up by ICE. NO SS to worry about for that poor child.
I mean I know that my favorite time to visit an SSA office is while recovering a major medical procedure, it sounds like a real barrel of laughs especially with an infant. Also SSA offices are routinely open outside normal working hours, so there's no problem for the second parent.
Wait a minute now...they sent an agent to my room to register my newborn...less than 24 hours after he was born...i didnt even know that registration was optional
They are going to close SS offices across the country making it harder to obtain SS#. Is this the start of managing the population in some nefarious way?
And it’s not clear if this is specific to Maine, or being piloted for expansion elsewhere. Because go visit the social security office is exactly what new parents want to do. This is how we lose our basic rights.
And it's not easy to do. You have to have an appointment. Both parents have to go. With ID. With "ID" for your baby (birth certificate plus one other thing). More parents will be turned away for incomplete paperwork than not. Totally unnecessary complication.
Vaccine record, hospital admission statement - there are a few options (that seem to change a little based on who you talk to). Signed of course - but not by just anyone. And original paper copies only.
You don’t need both parents - that’s for passport. Just the baby, original birth certificate, and stamped vaccine record. I had to do it because hospital messed up my address and it was a headache with parking and the cold - plus your exposing newborn to potentially Covid, Flu, and now measles.
Acc to google maps there's 8 SSA offices in Maine. Could be a really long drive for some people.
And if they don't do it, are their kids subject to deportation?
This affects Medicaid more than social security as most newborns have Medicaid for at least a year after birth. So without an ssn, they can't get Medicaid.
Beyond enraging. Definitely impacts those without money, but also impacts all those rural Maine communities, and of course anyone without reliable child care to make the visit.
People should be recovering and bonding with their children. Or, unfortunately, heading back to work. I'm not familiar if Maine has any kind of paid parental leave.
Bc no way could they verify the birth of an actual human in a place where they’re born. Bring them were the sickest people may be; unprotected, around your baby. Ok.
They used to do that in the hospital. 😶 That's how my son got his. I didn't register him
Seems like a waste of money again. That was 40 yrs. ago. Do they still not do that?
Now if they don’t take their babies to the SS office the parents will have no proof that they were born in the US. (I’m sure the gov won’t accept hospital records as proof). These sick immoral people will deport them all
Call your reps and senators now to see if your state will lose the ability to easily get infants their social security number. While you’re at it, protest news censorship at govt agencies and the use of AI to target college students.
#CallNowRantLater
Thank you for this information, I downloaded the app. This makes it so easy to call your legislator. I write a lot of emails, but I’m sure that they never see them. An email and a phone call would be much more effective! Thanks so much for this and to 5calls.
It's obvious. If you're an undocumented parent, you're not going to go to a federal office & if you do, you run the risk of ICE..
#cruelty bc now benefits your kid is entitled to, he won't get.
What they actually think is that children of the poor don't deserve to be considered real unless their parents make some ritual sacrifice. In 2025 it's figuring out how to get a newborn to that office. In earlier times it would've been publicly sacrificing their best pig or goat.
How does this save a dime?! This is opposite of efficient. What about preemies in NICU? You got to roll the incubator down to the SSA office in the middle of winter?
Damn, this is strange.
You know I had to take my newborn daughter, within thirty days of birth, down to the embassy in Seoul, just to physically show this GS person that I actually had a daughter and that I wasn't running a baby factory. I guess Americans are now in for a whole lot of this now.
In Canada you get forms either from your midwife or nurse, you fill them out, they take them and submit them for you.
No Service Canada agents are entering hospitals and no family is waiting in line at a Service Canada office. At least not that I've ever heard of.
They are hoping that immigrants, whether documented or not, will be unwilling to do this. Catching poor citizens in the same trap will be a plus for them. Lack of a Social Security number makes children ineligible for many benefits and services. Cruelty is always the point.
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- JRR Tolkien
"It included the Edmund S. Muskie Federal Building in Augusta (the capitol city's central post office), the SSA office in Presque Isle, & the U.S. Custom House in Portland."
magas never think it will affect them until it does and they are always surprised.
“The SSA has just notified Maine DHHS that it is rescinding the terminations of the Maine contracts for Enumeration at Birth (EAB) and Electronic Death Records (EDR) effective immediately,”
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/03/07/social-security-reverses-course-will-allow-maine-parents-to-register-their-newborn-at-hospital/#:~:text=newborn-at-hospital-,Social%20Security%20reverses%20course%2C%20will%20allow%20Maine%20parents%20to%20register,questions%20of%20Maine's%20congressional%20delegation.
https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-states-most-social-security-office-closures-after-doge-cuts-2040250
Make the USA so shitty, that nobody will want to come there.
Who will be available to process all these additional in-person requests?
If this is meant to be efficient, I have a bridge to sell ya.
When the child survival rate drops further because of exposure to preventable diseases, they’ll blame the mothers.
80’s, 90’s KS.
People are just being forced to go to the agency to do it themselves.
And if they don't do it, are their kids subject to deportation?
What happens to children who die before making it to the Social Security office? Are their caskets deported?
Family values my ass.
Look what's coming down the polluted waters.
Seems like a waste of money again. That was 40 yrs. ago. Do they still not do that?
#CallNowRantLater
#cruelty bc now benefits your kid is entitled to, he won't get.
Why isn't the fbi investigating?
You know I had to take my newborn daughter, within thirty days of birth, down to the embassy in Seoul, just to physically show this GS person that I actually had a daughter and that I wasn't running a baby factory. I guess Americans are now in for a whole lot of this now.
No Service Canada agents are entering hospitals and no family is waiting in line at a Service Canada office. At least not that I've ever heard of.
This is actually insane.
https://www.newsweek.com/social-security-update-maine-enumeration-birth-2041318
They’ll probably never admit their intentions with any changes, but at least they’ll cower away tails between their legs and undo their chaos.