Community and legal advocates are concerned that recent Trump administration manipulation of Social Security data may cause trouble for certain immigrants when they apply for a job, a loan, or housing.
That is because the Social Security Administration provides data to Consumer Reporting Agencies, which employers, lenders, landlords, and others use for background checks.
Over the last month, news outlets have reported that members of the Trump administration are manipulating the Social Security Administration’s data to either “cancel” certain people’s Social Security Numbers or falsely mark them as dead. The Trump administration has reportedly focused these actions on people with criminal convictions or who have been placed on a Department of Homeland Security “terrorist watch list.” However, other than these news reports, there is limited information on what the Trump administration may be doing with Social Security data.
If you think or are wondering if you might be affected, there is a simple step that you can take: check your credit report. While credit reports are not immediately updated with the Social Security data, they frequently add information from the agency—including information about when people have died.
If you are applying for a job, loan, or lease, look up your credit report before submitting your application to see if it says you have died or your Social Security number is otherwise invalid. While you’re looking at your credit report, you can also check for any other mistakes. Everyone is entitled to obtain a free credit report each week, without any effect on your credit score, at www.annualcreditreport.com.
If you are an immigrant and your credit report falsely indicates that you are dead or that your Social Security Number is invalid, feel free to contact Asian Law Caucus at 415-896-1701 for support to address these issues.
If you see other errors in your credit report, you may want to reach out to a consumer lawyer. Your local legal aid organization may provide free or low-cost consumer legal help. You can search for your closest legal aid organization at: https://www.lsc.gov/about-lsc/what-legal-aid/i-need-legal-help.