Workers at the Social Security Administration have been told to share information about in-person appointments with agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, WIRED has learned.
“If ICE comes in and asks if someone has an upcoming appointment, we will let them know the date and time,” an employee with direct knowledge of the directive says. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
While the majority of appointments with SSA take place over the phone, some appointments still happen in person. This applies to people who are deaf or hard of hearing and need a sign language interpreter, or if someone needs to change their direct deposit information. Noncitizens are also required to appear in person to review continued eligibility of benefits.
Social Security numbers are issued to US citizens but also to foreign students and people legally allowed to live and work in the country. In some cases, when a child or dependent is a citizen and the family member responsible for them is not, that person might need to accompany the child or dependent to an office visit.
The order to share information, which was recently communicated verbally to workers at certain SSA offices, marks a new era of collaboration between SSA and the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency.
The SSA and DHS did not reply to requests for comment.
The SSA has been sharing data with ICE for much of President Donald Trump’s second term. In April, WIRED reported that the Trump administration had been pooling sensitive data from across the government, including from the the SSA, DHS, and the Internal Revenue Service. By November, WIRED learned that the SSA had made the arrangements official and had updated a public notice that said the agency was sharing “citizenship and immigration information” with DHS. “It was shockingly clear that there was interest in getting access to immigration data by [the] Trump administration,” a former SSA official tells WIRED. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity due to concerns of retaliation.
This data sharing hasn’t been without contention: Last week, a district judge in Massachusetts ruled that the IRS and SSA could not share taxpayer data with DHS or ICE.
“You’re seeing SSA becoming an extension of Homeland Security,” says Leland Dudek, the former acting commissioner for the Social Security Administration.
Dudek says a directive to share details about in-person appointments would be “highly unusual,” particularly because the SSA is meant to be a “safe space” for people to come to, regardless of immigration status. “If a person is due a benefit, SSA is there for them and no harm will come to them,” he says. Cooperating with ICE in such a way, Dudek says, “diminishes the value of what SSA is to the public. Why would the public trust SSA anymore?”
Questions regarding how SSA workers can communicate with the public have been ongoing throughout Trump’s first term. As part of its incursion into the federal government, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency sought to end the SSA’s phone-based services but rolled the decision back after public backlash.
The SSA works with law enforcement officials on investigations, typically related to fraud or identity theft. It has publicly disclosed data-sharing agreements with DHS, but someone’s appointment time or schedule does not appear to be included in those arrangements.
Dudek says that the only time someone might be arrested at an SSA office historically is if the person had threatened the agency or staff members. “Anything that would normally involve apprehension of someone at an office or something like that would have been communicated through the office manager and to the representative from DHS as part of that,” says Dudek. “On multiple occasions I’ve had to hand over information to law enforcement, but there’s a process, paperwork, multiple people signing off. This appears to tell us to ignore that policy without actually updating it. It’s really worrying.”
In December, the SSA updated its Program Operations Manual System to allow for as-needed disclosures of “non-tax return information” to law enforcement that is outside of existing data sharing agreements. These disclosures are meant to be approved by the SSA’s general counsel on a case-by-case basis. Dudek says that the new instructions could pose complications, because it’s unclear where a “one-off request from law enforcement becomes a routine request from law enforcement.”
The news comes as ICE’s footprint drastically expands across the United States. A recent report by WIRED shows that the agency has plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, monthslong expansion campaign.