A decision made by the U.S. government, the White House in particular, has sparked a lot of worry and questions among people all over the country; especially, immigrants are the most concerned. According to the most recent reports, on April 8, 2025, federal agencies initiated the implementation of a widely debated resolution to get rid of those that are alive by taking them out of the government system and classifying them as dead, and thus caused the number of immigrants to reduce by more than 6,300 a person.
As a result, the project that the Trump administration has been carrying out with this move is that the people who would have become the six thousand were stopped from reaching their Social Security numbers, stopping accessibility from the bank, the job market, the government, and the public benefits. Among newspaper sources confirming the incident are People.com, AP News, and Vanity Fair.
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Their Actions
Those who were negatively affected by this act are the representatives of the immigrant community, who were annotated in the so-called “Master Death File” of the Social Security Administration (SSA), a file that is used by the SSA for the identification of the deceased.
In such instances, when these people are noted and recognized in the system, it is highly likely that their Social Security Number is officially declared dead, which makes it impossible for them to receive financial services, apply for government aid, or confirm their legal status. Say opponents, “this tactic is a form of ‘digital assassination’” which is now a popular term in protests of immigrant rights and has been widely used by them to refer to the act of intentionally wiping people off the government records without a legal trial or any formal notification.
Who Are the People Affected?
The people involved are those who the officials say were foreigners that the US government let in under a temporary parole after going through a lot of legal hassle, some of them having been admitted legally through human/ refugee shelters etc. instituted in the past by the authorities. These people would never be on the wanted list or have records in the FBI but it was said that suspicions arise from this that are not yet proven.
The view of a lot of the supporters is that the affected persons had normal lives in the U.S. for many years and the government gave them blessings to stay on humanitarian grounds. But one good morning cutting them off from the system makes them less than human and they are left without legal identification, financial tools, and housing and healthcare.
Why Did This Happen?
A White House representative who spoke about the action explained that it was a way of “taking away the financial reward” from immigrants who stay by cancelling their participation in federal programs. In the process, they will have less cash hence prompt them to be the ones who deport themselves.
On the other hand, experts and rights activists in immigration law have stood their ground. They are of the view that the directive is created to target the legally living people and to say that they are not an immigrant only violates their rights and posing them in very risky legal waters.
The SSA’s Master Death File regularly listed verified decedents—over 142 million entries since 1899. Nonetheless, this record is now being changed to the “Master File of Ineligibles” as a shift in the government using the system to deny entry to some of the immigrant groups.
What Can Happen If You Get on The List?
According to the Texas Tribune, the additional author of the SSA’s Master Death File may cause an unlikely situation where genuine people can be mistaken for the dead, unable to access their benefits, and prizes without their knowledge of it.
- By canceling your parole status and blocking your re-entry into the country they keep you from opening a new bank account or accessing the old one.
- They take the provision of essential services away from you and the family if they are vital, i.e., housing support, healthcare (both Medicaid and Medicare).
- Moreover, your social security number validity is doubted when plans to use it as a source of benefit information fail.
- It is very likely, that the person may lose their housing, Medicare, and/or Medicaid resources.
This conducts the policy from regulated to automatized, and the victims lament that they are being deliberately erased from the system by the government just by the creation of an SSF record.
The Last Notification
The step of the implementation was carried out by CBP (Customs and Border Protection) on April 8, 2025, who through issued letters conveyed to 6,300 people that their parole status was withdrawn. Their names and Social Security Numbers were then after, instantly transferred to the Master Death File database.
The subject of the letter said that he and those who received the same letter cannot appeal or challenge the action. Furthermore, some of them did not cause any harm to the law and were beneficial members of their communities for many years.
The Next Step?
Representatives of the civil society have expressed their intention of taking up legal action as the main form of response. Normally, a few lawsuits are to be filed in the next days or weeks in the concerned federal courts that may additionally problematize the legal nature of the mere usage of the death registry to eliminate from the living.
Meanwhile, such persons are recommended to:
- Any financially disadvantaged individual should approach immigration attorneys urgently.
- Apply for a stay of removal if could be a temporary escape from deportation and keep on going with your work, studies, and daily routines.
- Local immigrant resource organizations in your city or county will let you know about the assistance and support available and also help you get it.
- Request clarification from SSA using official means.
The SSA has yet to issue a formal public comment, but the matter has so far been carried beyond the national level to the international level.
It’s not anymore just a matter of the papers, it’s also about identity, dignity, and the legal rights provided by the U.S. to the people who are its citizens. While this story is evolving, one question still remains of utmost importance – can the system fix the problem that, as many believe, is the biggest mistake made?
Should someone you know suddenly lose access to their Social Security number, this could be the reason.
