Pressuring Migrants to ‘Self-Deport,’ White House Moves to Cancel Social Security Numbers

Since he took office, the Trump administration has moved strongly to cancel the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were allowed to enter the country during the era of President Joseph R. Biden Junior.

Now, the administration takes strict steps to pressure some of these immigrants and others who have a legal status to “inform them” by canceling the social security numbers that they obtained effectively, according to the documents reviewed by the New York Times and interviews with six people knowing plans.

The goal is to reduce these people from using decisive financial services such as bank accounts and credit cards, as well as reaching government benefits.

The voltage depends on a sudden new tactic: reusing the “main death file” for social security, which has been used for years to track dead people who no longer get advantages, to include the names of living persons that the government believes that they should be dealt with as if they had died. As a result of adding it to the death database, it will be included in the black list of a form of desired identity that allows them to earn and spend money.

Initial names are limited to the people who the administration says are guilty criminals and “suspects of suspects”, as the documents appear. But officials said that the effort made may expand to include others in the country without permission.

He wrote “their financial life”, the Commissioner for the Social Security Administration, Liland Dodik, in an e -mail to the employees, “Termination”.

This step is the latest in an extraordinary series of procedures conducted by the Trump administration, which was paid by Elon Musk and the Ministry of Governmental efficiency to harness personal data that has long been outside the borders of the immigration authorities in order to enhance President Trump’s vision to suppress collective immigrants. This week, many senior officials in the service of internal revenue Go to the resignation After the tax agency said it would help determine the location of illegal immigrants.

In another development that was not previously reported, Mr. Dudek reached an agreement with the Ministry of Internal Security, which would provide the last well -known addresses of 98,000 people to enforce immigration and customs, the Federal Agency responsible for deporting uncomfortable immigrants, and show documents and other interviews. Personal information that social security maintains was guarded closely under previous departments, according to 12 officials currently and previously said that the agency had not participated in such data widely with immigration authorities before.

By using social security data for migrants in the blacklist, the administration recruits a widely common agency – which is present to send benefits primarily to retired Americans and persons with disabilities – in its efforts to relax on what Mr. Trump mocked as “open border” policies for his democratic predecessor.

The role of new enforcement in social security raises fears that wrong data can lead to people, including American citizens, who are incorrect or incorrectly placed in the list, which increases their financial lives, according to interviews with current and former employees.

“The enforcement of immigration is not within the scope of the social security administration,” said Jason Fishnner, who held many higher positions in social security, as he was appointed by President George W. Bush. “The possibility of very dependency errors can be.”

Elizabeth Huston, a White House spokeswoman, said the changes in social security will help enhance the goals of immigration for the president. “President Trump promised to the mass deportation, and by removing the cash incentive for illegal foreigners to come and remain, we will encourage them to report the self.” “He fulfills his promise, which he made for the American people.”

Many changes in social security management are taking place It is led by Mr. MuskWhich has sparked unfounded conspiracy theories about fraud that illegal immigrants committed, and the agency that sends billions of dollars to the dead. Mr. Trump picked up many of these allegations.

The billionaire, Supreme Adviser to Mr. Trump, said without evidence of this Democrats used the agency To give immigrants social security numbers, which makes them eligible to obtain the advantages that have kept them in the United States so that they can convert the population composition in the country.

Meanwhile, the DOGE team for Mr. Musk targeted the Social Security Agency for discounts, and distinguished beneficiaries. Its employees’ discounts Some local field offices stumbledRecltor says it has become difficult to receive services. Now, during the reign of Mr. Trump, the agency takes an additional task of enforcing immigration, including those who entered the Biden administration, according to a senior White House official who is not authorized to speak publicly. Mr. Biden allowed many immigrants to temporarily enter the country as a way to motivate them to avoid crossing the border illegally. These people have become eligible to work in the United States, receive social security numbers and in some cases they receive federal advantages.

More than 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti were under one of the so -called conditional release programs during the Biden administration that allowed them to fly to the country, if they had financial sponsors and passed security tests. Another 900,000 immigrants use One CBPA phone application used by the Biden Administration, to enter entry ports and have been given the opportunity to stay and work in the United States.

The Trump administration targeted both programs. The program that allows migrants to fly at a later time this month – and with it the legal status of migrants here is already, is scheduled to end the court’s challenges. Trump administration officials have also started canceling the conditional release of the immigrants who entered the application.

On Tuesday, Aram Moghaddassi, software engineer Work for DougMr. Dudek sent the first group of names to be added: a list of more than 6,300 immigrant internal security officials who were known for a temporary legal status, but they are now on what he described as a “terrorist monitoring list”, or a sign was developed as “criminal records of the Federal Investigation Office”, as the documents appear. Mr. Mogadasi wrote that the popular and popular release situation was canceled on the same day.

The list included 13 years old and seven other minors, which raises fears within the agency that it was very wide, according to one person familiar with the list that spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.

White House official said that nearly 1,000 immigrants have received federal benefits of approximately $ 600,000 before the conditional release, including Medicaid, unemployment and federal student loans – at a rate of $ 600 per person.

Mr. Moghaddassi did not respond to the comment.

Although the agency has renamed the “unqualified main file” death list, according to the documents reviewed by the Times, it has not developed a new way to celebrate people as not qualified to obtain advantages. Currently, the supposed dates of death are given, according to two people familiar with this process.

Martin Omali, who held the position of Commissioner of Social Security Department during the era of Mr. Biden, described the strategy as inhuman.

Mr. Omali said: “He ordered the financial murder.”

Andrew Biggs, who served at the agency during the George W. Bush administration, suggested that such changes will help in the enactment of immigration policy for Mr. Trump.

“If you prefer to apply immigration, this is logical,” he said.

Trump administration officials have changed as a means of combating crime.

In a note addressed to Mr. Dudik on Monday, Christie Nom, Minister of Internal Security, wrote that the plan “will prevent the terrorists who are illegally here” from reaching “the privileges designated for those who have a legal status.”

She did not say how the administration was specifying whether someone was a “suspected terrorist.”

List of death

Social Security Agency’s death list is one of its most important data groups. Officials reserve this by collecting death records from government health records, funeral houses and family members, with nearly 3 million new death reports every year. That prevents improper payments from leaving.

Officials also share this information with other federal agencies to ensure that people who died have no interest. The Ministry of Commerce sells a copy of the list for banks, credit offices and other financial institutions that want to avoid the accounts of fraudsters using stolen social security numbers.

Those who were put in the list by mistake while still alive have reported disaster effects, such as closing their homes and canceling bank accounts. In order to remove it, they have to go to the field offices to try to prove their identity, an internally known process as “Resurrection”. But even then the problem may take months to fix it, or more.

The re -use of the death list, as well as the agency, which shares headlines with immigration authorities, may face challenges under federal tax laws and privacy that govern social security data maintenance, according to former officials and agency experts.

“The Social Security Administration has a legal commitment to maintain accurate data to manage its programs, and strict laws govern the use and exchange of these data,” said Kathleen Romij, director of social security policy at the Budget and Policy Priorities Center, the Left Research Center.

Trump officials said they want to update the country’s deportation system by combining groups of data kept by various agencies that have been implemented long ago, which are part of a A wider effort to link personal data About the public around the government.

The documents reviewed by the Times show that Dog plays an important role in this process, including in agreeing to share the addresses that were struck in February.

Under the conditions of this arrangement, immigration officials agreed to send thousands of social security numbers to the Social Security Administration, which would match them with personal data and restore the related addresses.

ICE collects as much information as possible to target uncomfortable immigrants, scanning and detention, although the titles in their records may sometimes be old.

The documents have shown that Mr. Dodik gave permission to Duji engineers and ice leaders to use his law enforcement agency. As Michael Rousseau, then information official in the then Social Security Administration and member of the Mr. Musk team, asked to send information to DHS urgently.

None of the agency will not confirm whether the data has been sent.

Social Security Systems It stated that the agency may disclose information for law enforcement in certain circumstances, including when a person is accused or convicted of “violent crimes”, and investigating fraud in entitlement. During the first Trump administration, the Ministry of Internal Security, which oversees ICE, also prompted access to social security data, but was rejected based on privacy concerns, according to two people familiar with negotiations.

Among the DOGE Associats for the approval of the data sharing agreement, Akash Bobba, a modern university graduate who obtained access to social security systems in early February, according to court records; Scott Coulter, which was called as an official in social security last month; And Marco Eliz, the engineer who resigned from government positions earlier this year after linking it to the X account with the racist jobs that prompted the immigration policies based on birth improvement.

After Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance He called for his return to DujMr. Eliz was quietly employed.

Kate Congerand Andrew Dahrin and Myriam Jordan The reports contributed. Shalg Mackeel The research contributed.