Social Security lists thousands of living immigrants as dead to prompt
them to leave, AP sources say
[April 11, 2025]
By WILL WEISSERT and FATIMA HUSSEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has moved to classify more
than 6,000 living immigrants as dead, canceling their Social Security
numbers and effectively wiping out their ability to work or receive
benefits in an effort to get them to leave the country, according to two
people familiar with the situation.
The move will make it much harder for those affected to use banks or
other basic services where Social Security numbers are required. It’s
part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump to crack down on
immigrants who were allowed to enter and remain temporarily in the
United States under programs instituted by his predecessor, Joe Biden.
The Trump administration is moving the immigrants' names and legally
obtained Social Security numbers to a database that federal officials
normally use to track the deceased, according to the two people familiar
with the moves and their ramifications. They spoke on condition of
anonymity Thursday night because the plans had not yet been publicly
detailed.
The officials said stripping the immigrants of their Social Security
numbers will cut them off from many financial services and encourage
them to “self-deport” and abandon the U.S. for their birth countries.
It wasn't immediately clear how the 6,000-plus immigrants were chosen.
But the Trump White House has targeted people in the country temporarily
under Biden-era programs, including more than 900,000 immigrants who
entered the U.S. using that administration's CBP One app.
On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security revoked the legal status
of the immigrants who used that app. They had generally been allowed to
remain in the U.S. for two years with work authorization under
presidential parole authority during the Biden era, but are now expected
to self-deport.
Meanwhile, a federal judge said Thursday that she was stopping the Trump
administration from ordering hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians,
Nicaraguans and Venezuelans with temporary legal status to leave the
country later this month.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to reporters outside the
West Wing of the White House, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A representative from the Social Security Administration did not
respond to a request for comment on the news that living immigrants
were being classified as dead. The agency maintains the most
complete federal database of individuals who have died, and the file
contains more than 142 million records, which go back to 1899.
The Privacy Act allows the Social Security Administration to
disclose information to law enforcement in limited circumstances,
which includes when a violent crime has been committed or other
criminal activity.
DHS and the Treasury Deprartment signed a deal this week that would
allow the IRS to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and
Customs Enforcement for the purpose of identifying and deporting
people illegally in the U.S. The agreement will allow ICE to submit
names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally to the
IRS for cross-verification against tax records.
The acting IRS commissioner, Melanie Krause, who had served in that
capacity since February, stepped down over that deal.
In March, meanwhile, a federal judge temporarily blocked a team
charged with cutting federal jobs and shrinking the government led
by billionaire Elon Musk from Social Security systems that hold
personal data on millions of Americans, calling their work there a
“fishing expedition.”
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, an advocacy
group that has challenged various Trump administration efforts in
court, said her organization would likely sue over the Social
Security numbers as well, once more details become available.
“This President continues to engage in lawless behavior, violating
the law and abusing our systems of checks and balances,” Perryman
said.
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