The Trump administration is facing intense scrutiny following two explosive reports revealing its use of federal administrative powers to push forward an aggressive deportation agenda and crack down on political dissent. One report alleges that the administration placed thousands of immigrants in the Social Security Administration’s death database to strip their legal status, while another involves the detention and deportation proceedings against Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident and Columbia University graduate, allegedly due to his political speech criticizing U.S. policy toward Israel.
According to reports from The Washington Post and The New York Times, the administration recently classified approximately 6,000 immigrants as deceased by entering their names and Social Security numbers into the SSA’s “death master file.” The move was reportedly initiated by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who signed two memorandums of agreement with Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek. The action cut off the individuals’ access to legal employment, health insurance, and financial systems—pressuring them to “self-deport.”
“This is an outrageous abuse of power,” said Nancy Altman, president of the advocacy group Social Security Works. “It will not only create extreme hardship, but kill people. Imagine, in one Trump administration keystroke, losing your income, your health insurance, access to your bank account, your credit cards, your home, and more.”
Altman added: “If they get away with this, it would be no surprise if they then move on to marking their perceived enemies as dead—citizens and non-citizens alike. This is a total misuse of the dedicated revenue that workers contribute to Social Security, with every paycheck. Though Trump claimed he wouldn’t cut benefits, he essentially is by diverting dedicated monies from their intended purpose of paying Social Security benefits to the immoral purpose of maliciously ruining lives.”
SSA officials are also reportedly sharing the personal information of those marked as deceased with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Critics warn that even small errors in the process could wrongly label people who are legally present in the United States. “If the data isn’t perfect, people here legally might be effectively declared dead,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council.
Among those affected are immigrants who previously held legal status through temporary programs introduced under the Biden administration. Those programs have since ended, leaving many vulnerable to status revocations.
According to The New York Times, Dudek informed staff via internal email that the “financial lives” of the targeted immigrants would be “terminated.” The Times also reported growing dysfunction at SSA, where recipients are encountering closed field offices, unresponsive phone systems, and technical issues that have severely hampered their ability to access benefits. “Thousands of worried and frustrated recipients have thronged local field offices,” the Times reported, “asking why the phone lines are jammed, whether their local offices will be closed by Elon Musk’s team of software engineers and technology executives, and whether they will lose their benefits.”
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that undocumented immigrants paid roughly $26 billion in Social Security taxes in 2022.
Meanwhile, a second case involving government action against dissent has drawn national attention. On March 8, Mahmoud Khalil, a green-card holder and Columbia University graduate, was detained by plainclothes federal agents outside his New York City home. His wife, Noor Abdalla—a U.S. citizen and nine months pregnant—witnessed the arrest and later stated, “this felt like a kidnapping because it was.” Khalil has described himself as a “political prisoner.”
A memo submitted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to an immigration judge in Louisiana states that Khalil’s participation in pro-Palestinian campus protests poses “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” and undermines “a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.” The memo further claims that Khalil and another unnamed individual participated in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”
Marc Van Der Hout, Khalil’s attorney, responded: “The government has charged Mahmoud with a rarely used provision of the immigration laws targeting the deportation of even lawful permanent residents like Mahmoud—but Secretary of State Marco Rubio has provided no proof or evidence that these charges bear any viability against Mahmoud. Further, Secretary Rubio has shown that this is merely about targeting Mahmoud’s free speech rights about Palestine.”
He added: “An immigration judge would have to find that the secretary of state has ‘reasonable ground’ to believe that the immigrant’s presence or activities in the U.S. ‘would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences,’ and that his presence—though he has only engaged in lawful conduct that is protected by the First Amendment—‘compromise[s] a compelling United States foreign policy interest,’ which purportedly justifies the government’s ability to override the U.S. Constitution’s free speech clause. But Rubio cites no real foreign policy issues or evidence whatsoever, and it is critically important to note that the U.S. government is always constrained by the Constitution, regardless of what its officials might think.”
Khalil is represented by a coalition of civil rights organizations, including Dratel & Lewis, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) project, the NYU Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, and multiple ACLU chapters.
Molly Biklen, interim legal director at the NYCLU, said, “Rubio’s memo underscores that the government has ripped Mahmoud Khalil from his home and nine-months pregnant wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, solely because it disagrees with his speech. Controversial speech is not illegal, and political speech that criticizes the Israeli government or U.S. foreign policy is constitutionally protected.”
The Department of Homeland Security has not publicly released any specific evidence supporting the charges. In an emailed statement, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “DHS did file evidence, but immigration court dockets are not available to the public.”
The judge presiding over Khalil’s case in Jena, Louisiana, has expressed skepticism about the charges. “If he’s not removable, I’m going to terminate this case,” the judge said earlier in the week.
In a related federal court case in New Jersey, Khalil’s attorneys are challenging his detention. CCR staff attorney Samah Sisay stated, “The government has not stated any legitimate foreign policy interest that is negatively impacted by Mr. Khalil but instead erroneously attributes prejudiced views to him for participating in the student encampment at Columbia University and speaking out against the United States’ support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The government has not met its burden, and Mr. Khalil should be released.”
Biklen added, “If anything, this document only underscores the startling escalation of Trump’s war on dissent and efforts to remove people who disagree with him or U.S. policy. It’s nothing more than a naked attack on all of our free speech rights.”
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