Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is reportedly gathering undocumented migrants' personal data with the purpose of removing them from their housing and the workforce, a new investigation reveals.
Across federal agencies, from the Social Security Administration, to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and beyond, the federal government is carrying out an unprecedented effort to use government data to support the Trump administration's immigration policies, the new investigation from The Washington Post reveals.
The information being collected includes personal data people have reported about themselves for years while paying taxes or applying for housing— believing that information would not be used against them for immigration purposes.
While the White House has not commented on the report, a Department of Homeland Security official told The Washington Post that "the government is finally doing what it should have all along: sharing information across the federal government to solve problems."
"Information sharing across agencies is essential to identify who is in our country, including violent criminals, determine what public safety and terror threats may exist, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, as well as identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense," the department's assistant secretary for public affairs said.
At Social Security, DOGE representatives have spent the past month seeking access to data and asking questions that would allow them to ascertain people's citizenship status, according to two staffers with direct knowledge of DOGE's activities who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
In March, DOGE advisers accessed a dataset with highly sensitive personal information, including applicants' driver's licenses, citizenship status and various other markers collected by DHS, which it shares with Social Security under existing interagency agreements. They later asked career employees how to understand, interpret and use Social Security data and wage data. The data would allow DOGE officials to identify individuals who are working in the country without a Social Security number.
Information is also being passed through federal agencies. Last month, Trump signed an executive order to eliminate "information silos," which would boost the government's "ability to detect overpayments and fraud." This month, the IRS agreed to share data with DHS, which indicated it might seek to use tax information to find as many as 7 million people suspected of being in the country illegally, The Post reported. DHS has also asked the Social Security Administration for help with immigration enforcement and tracking down fraudulent use of Social Security numbers.
Likewise, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner announced an agreement last month to facilitate data sharing with DHS and ensure that taxpayer funds "are not used to harbor or benefit illegal aliens." Turner told Fox News Digital that "those that are here illegally, that are living in HUD-funded public housing, we're putting on notice."
HUD knows which households included undocumented people because all applicants are required to report their status when seeking assistance. Undocumented immigrants are prorated out of an amount of assistance households receive but have been allowed to live in public housing for years. An undocumented grandparent or parent sometimes lives in public housing with other eligible family members.
In a statement, HUD spokeswoman Kasey Lovett said that "there are tens of thousands of 'ineligible individuals in HUD housing, which more than likely translates to illegal aliens." She added that the department currently serves only 1 in 4 American families who need help.
"Secretary Turner is using every tool at his disposal to reverse the wrongdoings and negligence of the Biden administration and is making certain that under the leadership of President Trump, American citizens are the only priority," Lovett said.
Legal experts have been quick to denounce the sharing of information, saying it is a breach of privacy rules that help ensure trust in government programs and services.
"It's not only about one subgroup of people, it's really about all of us," said Tanya Broder, senior counsel for health and economic justice policy at the left-leaning National Immigration Law Center. "Everyone cares about their privacy. Nobody wants their health-care information or tax information broadcast and used to go after us."
Originally published on Latin Times
