WASHINGTON – The Social Security Administration this week classified more than 6,000 living immigrants as dead in a move directed by the Trump administration, according to a White House official. The move, as reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post, classified the immigrants into the Social Security Administration’s “death master file,” which contains records of deceased individuals who possessed social security numbers. Moving them in the file means that those individuals’ numbers would be invalidated and they would lose access to financial services. Both the NYT and Reuters reported that the immigrants had previously been legally admitted to the U.S., but since had their temporary status revoked. The Department of Homeland Security identified these individuals as having criminal records or on the terrorist watch list, the White House official said. The Department of Government Efficiency, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, played a role in the effort, according to the NYT and the Post.
White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in a statement to USA TODAY that, “President Trump promised mass deportations and by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport. He is delivering on his promise he made to the American people.” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group that aims to strengthen immigration policy, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the move is “utterly unprecedented” and has “the potential to cause immense problems for people. And it’s also one with a HUGE potential for error.”
“If the data isn’t perfect, people here legally might be effectively declared dead,” he wrote. Reps. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and John Larson, D-Conn., alleged in a joint statement on Thursday that “the residents being targeted aren’t being afforded due process.” They added, “If they cancel the Social Security number of one person, where do they stop?” Since coming into office, Trump has taken several actions to curb immigration, including canceling the humanitarian parole program launched under the Biden administration that gave over 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans temporary permission to enter the country.
