President Donald Trump’s administration has made immigration the centerpiece of its policy agenda. Across the government, agencies have been asked to find new offices for immigration authorities, share sensitive data on immigrants, and help push immigrants off of government services.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) received an unprecedented amount of funding through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which allocated nearly $80 billion to DHS, with $45 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement alone. ICE has doubled in size since Trump took office; the agency claims it has hired an additional 12,000 new agents.
But the effort to target immigrants has spread beyond DHS and across the government, pulling agencies whose work had little or nothing to do with immigration previously into the melee. Last year, WIRED reported how DHS was building a database to track and surveil immigrants, pulling in data from the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Internal Revenue Service, and state-level voting data. Months later, even more agencies are involved.
WIRED spoke to workers across seven agencies including the SSA, the IRS, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), who described how their work has become an arm of the administration’s immigration agenda. DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
Office of Management and Budget
States and nonprofits could see their access to government grants cut off if the government determines that the money could be used to “fund, promote, encourage, subsidize, or facilitate” illegal immigration. The OMB, which creates the president’s budget and implements the administration’s policy agenda across agencies, is in the process of changing its guidance and requirements for who can get government grants.
OMB is now in the process of updating 2 CFR Part 200, or what’s known as the uniform guidance for federal grants, according to sources who have seen the draft update. The new guidance will now include language saying that federal grants “must not be used to fund, promote, encourage, subsidize, or facilitate” several topics that have become a focus of the administration, including “racial preferences or other forms of racial discrimination,” “denial of the recipient of the sex binary in humans,” “illegal immigration,” or “initiatives that compromise public safety or promote anti-American values.”
The rule would impact federal grants across 26 federal agencies. It is just the latest in turning immigration enforcement into an all-encompassing government effort.
A government worker who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation says that “there’s no way to determine some of these things objectively,” noting that supporting, say, the citizen children of undocumented immigrants could be interpreted as supporting “illegal immigration” in the eyes of someone like Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser Stephen Miller. The determinations would be made before the grant is awarded, making it hard for the public or applicants to understand where these new requirements might be coming into play, the employee says. “I mean, it’s all about how far are they willing to stretch logic?” the employee says. “And I think they’ve proven that they’re willing to stretch it pretty damn far.”
The OMB did not respond to a request for comment.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
At HUD, the target has been “mixed status households,” families where some members may be citizens and others may be immigrants. In January, HUD assistant secretary Benjamin Hobbs sent out a letter to Public Housing Authorities (PHAs), local authorities authorized by the government to manage affordable housing funded by HUD, informing them that they would need to re-verify the immigration status and eligibility of every resident involved in housing. “HUD strongly encourages PHAs to require that families provide proof of citizenship by such means as birth certificates, naturalization certificates, passports, or other documentation,” the letter says.
The letter adds that if a PHA knows that a resident is “not lawfully present” in the US, “then the PHA must provide to DHS a report of the person’s name, address, and other identifying information that the PHA has.”
PHAs are already required to ensure that people living in taxpayer-supported housing are eligible for those benefits. But now, HUD is asking PHAs to use a new report within the agency’s Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system that cross references HUD data with data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system. The report includes “a list of individuals whose citizenship or eligible immigration status need to be confirmed” by HUD.
A few weeks later, on February 19, HUD proposed a new rule that would bar “mixed status families” from receiving certain government benefits. The press release announcing the new rule purports that from “a recent HUD and DHS audit of all assisted households” there are “200,000 tenants with incomplete or unknown eligibility verification” and 24,000 people that the agency calls “illegal aliens, ineligibles, and fraudsters” in “mixed status” households.
Mixed status families have historically received pro-rated support depending on how many members were eligible for government support. But the new rule would make that pro-rated support temporary, “pending verification of eligible status of all family members.” It also requires those living in government subsidized housing to provide proof of citizenship or legal status for every person living in the home.
HUD did not respond to a request for comment.
Social Security Administration
SSA has been working to align with the administration’s immigration agenda for months, from sharing sensitive data about immigrants with DHS to making it harder for legal immigrants to get social security numbers.
In March 2025, the SSA paused the Enumeration Beyond Entry program, which allowed the agency to automatically issue social security numbers to immigrants legally allowed to live and work in the US. Instead, immigrants were required to physically appear at an SSA office to verify their identity.
Meanwhile, members of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) stationed at the SSA in the spring of 2025 moved thousands of immigrants into the agency’s “death master file,” essentially deactivating their social security numbers, shutting off their access to government benefits and employment within the US.
In April 2025, WIRED reported how SSA data was being shared with DHS via the SAVE system, which verifies immigration status. States are now using that system to check their voter rolls, leading to naturalized citizens losing their right to vote. SAVE is the same system that HUD uses to evaluate whether someone is eligible for government subsidized housing.
On December 19, 2025, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of DHS, sent out a memo rescinding expedited processing for people applying for citizenships who receive Supplemental Security Income. SSI provides monthly benefits to elderly people, people with disabilities, or those with little to no money or resources. Human trafficking victims and refugees, particularly from Iraq, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, are also eligible for these benefits, which typically last for seven years. Previously, if someone’s application for naturalization had been pending for at least 6 months and their SSI benefits were in danger of running out, they would be bumped to the front of the line for naturalization.
“But this would enable them to allow refugee status to expire so they lose benefits,” says an SSA employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
In February 2026, employees at some of its offices were told to share appointment details with ICE.
SSA did not respond to a request for comment.
Department of Labor
After gaining access to sensitive data at the DOL, the administration is now focusing on investigating businesses that employ immigrants. Last year, WIRED reported that DOGE gained access to the DOL’s database on migrant farm workers and organizations that support them. In July, the agency announced that it would require all grantees funded through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and other programs to verify that every person they serve is legally allowed to work in the US.
In September, DOL announced Project Firewall, which would investigate companies offering H1-B visas. Recently, employees were told that the agency’s enforcement priorities would include going after businesses that violate immigration laws for the purpose of paying workers less than the minimum hourly wage. The specific focus of enforcement are the harms to US workers, when employers create an environment where they can pay less and offer fewer protections by hiring undocumented workers.
Health and Human Services
Like SSA, HHS has also shared sensitive data with immigration authorities. But the agency’s work has also become deeply entangled with the immigration surge in Minnesota, as well as the administration’s allegations of widespread fraud.
In November, HHS announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) would begin sharing Medicare and Medicaid data with DHS and ICE. Certain immigrants are eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, particularly green card holders, so long as their enrollment in the programs comes at least five years after obtaining US residency.
Reporting from KFF Health News found that doctors were struggling about whether to inform patients about this new data-sharing agreement, because it could deter them from signing up for Emergency Medicaid or otherwise avoid seeking treatment.
In December, following conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley’s claim that Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community had perpetrated widespread fraud in some of the state’s childcare centers, former deputy secretary of HHS Jim O’Neill announced a funding freeze for the state’s childcare payments. The allegations of fraud led to the massive immigration surge in Minneapolis, which saw some 3,000 ICE agents stationed in the city. During the surge, federal agents killed two American citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Vice President JD Vance, who is now leading the administration’s efforts to fight fraud, and Mehmet Oz, CMS administrator, announced in late February that the administration would be halting Medicaid payments to the state due to the government’s allegations of fraud.
In January, Oz made similar allegations of fraud, this time against California’s Armenian community. In response, California governor Gavin Newsom’s office filed a civil rights complaint. Oz has also said that CMS could withhold “hundreds of millions of dollars in payments” if California does not respond to CMS’s request for information about alleged fraud, particularly in the state’s hospice facilities.
HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
US Department of Agriculture
The USDA has also seen immigration rules limit who can access government services. After the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill in the summer of 2025, certain immigrants lost the ability to receive food and nutrition support through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Though undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for SNAP, the new rule now also bars refugees, special immigrants from Afghanistan and Iraq, and some human trafficking survivors from accessing the program.
In response to a request for comment, a USDA spokesperson told WIRED that, “Due to the complex nature of non-citizen policy, USDA is in the process of developing additional guidance based on questions from SNAP State Agencies and partners.”
General Services Administration
WIRED previously reported that the General Services Administration, which manages government buildings, is helping ICE physically expand its offices and facilities across the country, located near sensitive places like schools, places of worship, and health care facilities. This process began in September 2025, when GSA employees were added to an ICE “surge team” dedicated to finding more space for the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations; its legal arm, the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor; and Homeland Security Investigations unit.
Internal Revenue Service
Like SSA, the IRS hosts sensitive data about both Americans and immigrants, particularly because many undocumented immigrants pay taxes. In April, the Treasury, which houses the IRS, announced a memorandum of understanding with DHS that would share taxpayer information with the agency for immigration enforcement. WIRED also found that IRS data was amongst the data included in DHS’s expanded SAVE system around that same time.
A federal judge initially blocked the IRS’s ability to share data with DHS, but on February 24, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against issuing a preliminary injunction, effectively allowing the data sharing to continue. A ruling from another federal judge just two days later, on February 26, found that the IRS violated federal tax law laws “42,695 times” in sharing data with DHS.
The IRS did not respond to a request for comment.
Small Business Administration
At the SBA, which does not normally interface with immigration operations, the administration has closed one of the only avenues for noncitizens to access loans. On February 2, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a revision to its policies, effectively barring business with noncitizen owners from accessing SBA loans through its two primary lending programs, even if the owner is legally in the country. Previously, businesses with up to 5 percent foreign ownership were eligible for the loan.
“We have never received any evidence, credible or otherwise, from the SBA or any other entity, that large numbers of individuals in the U.S. without legal authorization are receiving access to SBA financing and loan products,” a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote in a letter to the agency’s administration, Kelly Loeffler. “The SBA is doing nothing except making it harder for American-owned small businesses to access capital.”
On March 2, an SBA employee logged into one of the agency’s internal loan systems to find a banner telling employees that the agency’s financing is limited to “applicants with 100% direct and/or indirect owners and SBA-required guarantors, all of whom must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals” who reside in the US or its territories.
“The Trump SBA has been very consistent: we are committed to driving economic growth and job creation for American citizens—which is why the agency implemented citizenship verification across its loan programs and why it will no longer guarantee loans for small businesses owned by foreign nationals,” SBA spokesperson Maggie Clemmons tells WIRED. Clemmons claims that loans to noncitizens accounted for only 4 percent of approved loans in 2025. “Because SBA has a finite lending capacity, the agency’s rule change will help ensure more American citizens have access to funding previously granted to noncitizens.”
Much of the administration’s emphasis has gone toward targeting agencies whose work supports low-income people. Mark Greenberg, former general counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services and a scholar in residence at the Brookings Institution, says that this may be due to something called the “public charge” rule. It’s a concept in immigration law that someone “should not get a visa or be admitted to the country, or become a lawful permanent resident, if they are likely to be dependent on cash assistance or on the government for institutionalization,” says Greenberg. In November, DHS submitted a notice of proposed rulemaking defining who is a “public charge” even more broadly.
As part of the proposed rule, DHS openly says that it hopes scrutiny of these avenues of support would create a “chilling effect,” saving the government “$8.97 billion annually due to disenrollment or forgone enrollment in public benefits programs by members of households that include aliens who may be receiving public benefits.”
But even agencies whose work doesn’t focus on social services have not escaped the gravitational pull of the immigration push.
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