Bay Area Advocates Slam Social Security Number Cancellations for Thousands of Immigrants

The Trump administration contends that canceling the lawfully obtained social security numbers of more than 6,300 immigrants this week, thereby gutting their ability to lawfully work, will pressure them to leave the U.S.

But Bay Area economic justice advocates worry that the effort, which could grow to target additional immigrants without legal status, will drive more people into the financial shadows and increase distrust of the government.

This comes days after a plan for the Internal Revenue Service to share protected taxpayer data — to help locate immigrants who have been ordered deported and are under federal criminal investigation, including for remaining in the country — prompted top IRS officials to resign.

Tax information has long been kept off-limits from immigration enforcement agencies, and the changes may spark a far-reaching chill through immigrant communities, said Paulina Gonzalez-Brito, who directs the San Francisco nonprofit Rise Economy.

“We’ve worked a long time, different administrations have worked a long time to get immigrants to participate in the economy, to pay their taxes so that they can someday naturalize,” Gonzalez-Brito said. “And now that’s being used as a weapon to disenfranchise them completely from the economic system … It’s really unfortunate and really painful to hear.”

Previously, undocumented immigrants were often assured they would not be targeted by immigration authorities if they filed taxes using what’s known as an individual identification taxpayer number, or ITIN, in lieu of a social security number.

The Trump administration’s policies could hurt contributions especially in states like California, where undocumented immigrants paid nearly $8.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, according to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Social security numbers are needed to work lawfully in the U.S., receive benefits and access many lower-cost bank accounts, credit cards and loans. The form of identity is the most important tool to participate in the financial system and support ourselves, said José Quiñonez, CEO of Mission Asset Fund in San Francisco.

“We’re basically taking away their livelihood,” he said. “This is the most dire thing that we can possibly do to people that came here looking for asylum, for refuge, for some stability to build their lives.”

The Department of Homeland Security identified the roughly 6,300 immigrants, who had temporary legal status, as having FBI criminal records or being on a terrorist watch list, according to a White House official. The administration terminated their parole on April 8, and moved their social security numbers to a list used to track dead people who should no longer receive benefits, previously known as the “Death Master File” (now called the “Ineligible Master File”).

“President Trump promised mass deportations and by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport,” Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement. “He is delivering on his promise he made to the American people.”

The list included a 13-year-old and seven other minors, according to sources cited by the New York Times.

Gonzalez-Brito questioned whether affected immigrants would be able to dispute their social security numbers being canceled, for instance, by proving that they shouldn’t be on the terrorist list.

“It seems like there’s no due process rights for immigrants who are targeted in this way and that just seems, to be honest, perfectly un-American,” said Gonzalez-Brito, whose organization advocates for bank policies to better serve communities with low incomes.

Huston did not comment on whether any of the people with frozen social security numbers are located in California, or whether the administration plans to use the tactic next on other groups. Earlier this week, DHS revoked the temporary legal status and work permits of more than 900,000 migrants who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration using the government’s CBP One app.

“It’s devastating to the immigrant community who have to navigate all these attacks,” said Tiffany Rose Naputi Lacsado, chief program officer at The Unity Council in Oakland, which offers services that include helping immigrants budget, file taxes and open bank accounts. “I really believe it’ll put people into the shadows. It just further threatens their lives and livelihoods.”

Naputi Lacsado and other advocates believe that a growing fear of deportations could lead immigrants to report fewer crimes to the police or go without the health care they need. People losing their social security numbers face a higher risk of predatory lending and exploitation if they chose to stay and join the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, the advocates said.

The tactics of revoking social security numbers or sharing IRS data for deportation purposes are unprecedented, but previous administrations have also tried to make life harder for immigrants so they self-deport, Quiñonez said.

“We’ve seen this before. So we need to push back, try to show that this is not the way, that this is not who we are as a country that purports to uphold liberty and freedom,” he said. “We have to come together in community to move forward together.”