Trump pushes self-deportation strategy using social security database
Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello attends the arrival of Venezuelan migrants that were deported from the United States, at Simon Bolivar International Airport, in Maiquetia, Venezuela, April 10, 2025.
The Trump administration aims to convince some immigrants without legal status to self-deport by adding them to a database of dead people, thus rendering their Social Security numbers inoperable, an administration official told Reuters.
Immigrants who were legally admitted to the US under the Biden administration but have since had their temporary status revoked would be added to the Social Security Administration's "death master list," which is normally used to identify dead people who should no longer receive Social Security benefits, said the source, who requested anonymity to discuss the plans.
