The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is collaborating with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to identify and address illegal immigrants who are unlawfully using U.S. Social Security numbers, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday.
The initiative, spearheaded by Antonio Gracias, a close associate of DOGE head Elon Musk, involves a specialized task force within DHS and other agencies. This task force is focused on locating sensitive data related to illegal immigrants.
Secretary Noem, speaking on “Fox & Friends,” stated that approximately 9 million non-U.S. citizens received Social Security numbers during the Biden administration. She highlighted that Gracias’ team has already identified over 6,000 individuals, including those on terror watchlists and with criminal records, who are unlawfully using these numbers.
“I’ve met Antonio, and he’s brilliant. He’s gonna be working to make sure that individuals who got Social Security numbers in this country should be using them for the right things and they shouldn’t be on our benefit programs,” Noem said. “We have over 6,000 individuals who have been identified through their work already that have been on the terror watchlist [and] who are criminals … It happens when you put a train wreck like Joe Biden in the White House and it’s gonna be a lot of work to clean it up. But just in the last four-and-a-half years, we’ve had 9 million people get Social Security numbers that are not U.S. citizens.”
The DOGE division aims to effectively cancel the Social Security numbers of 6,300 illegal immigrants with criminal records or ties to terror watchlists, according to Politico. The administration is reportedly working with the Social Security Administration to add these individuals to a database that tracks deceased individuals, preventing them from receiving benefits.
Reports indicate that over 900 of the identified individuals received approximately $600,000 in federal benefits, including Medicaid, federal student loans, and unemployment insurance, according to The New York Times.
Key DOGE engineers, including Aram Moghaddassi, Payton Rehling, Kyle Schutt, Edward Coristine, and Mark Elez, now have access to DHS data, enabling them to identify illegal immigrants receiving government benefits, Politico reported. These engineers are working to revoke paroles, visas, and temporary protected status, aiming to encourage self-deportation.
Secretary Noem clarified that many of the identified individuals initially received temporary legal status during the Biden administration, which has since been revoked. She emphasized that the Trump administration is offering these individuals the “opportunity” to voluntarily return to their home countries.
“That’s the one thing that President Trump would like, is for everybody to be given the opportunity to go home if they would wish to,” Noem said.
The DHS also pointed to the CBP Home app, which includes a self-deportation feature, as a tool that has assisted over 5,000 illegal immigrants in voluntarily leaving the United States.
The administration highlighted the contrasting trends in border crossings, noting that after a record high during the Biden administration, March saw a record low of approximately 7,180 crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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