The Trump administration has taken a drastic step by classifying over 6,000 living immigrants as dead, effectively cancelling their social security numbers and rendering them unable to work or access benefits.
This move aims to encourage these immigrants to “self-deport” and return to their home countries. The immigrants targeted by this policy were allowed to enter and remain in the US temporarily under programs introduced by former President Joe Biden.
They had lawfully obtained social security numbers, which are unique nine-digit numbers issued by the federal government to US citizens, permanent residents, and temporary working residents.
These numbers are used for various official purposes, including tracking earnings and contributions to the social security system. By stripping these immigrants of their social security numbers, the Trump administration is effectively cutting them off from many financial services and making it difficult for them to use banks or other basic services.
This move is part of a broader effort to crack down on immigrants who entered the US under Biden-era programs, including over 900,000 immigrants who used the CBP One app.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), on Monday, revoked the legal status of immigrants who used the CBP One app, allowing them to remain in the US for two years with work authorisation under presidential parole authority during the Biden era.
However, they are now expected to self-deport. A federal judge has stopped 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.
Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, an advocacy group that has challenged various Trump administration efforts in court, said, “This president continues to engage in lawless behavior, violating the law and abusing our systems of checks and balances.” The group is likely to sue over the social security numbers once more details become available, per the Associated Press report.
In a related development, DHS and the Treasury Department signed a deal allowing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation purposes. This agreement enables ICE to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the US illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records. The acting IRS commissioner, Melanie Krause, stepped down over this deal, which has raised concerns about the potential misuse of taxpayer data.
The Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on immigrants have also faced legal challenges. A federal judge temporarily blocked a team led by billionaire Elon Musk from accessing social security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans, calling their work a “fishing expedition.”
