A federal judge blocked Thursday that the so -called Government Efficiency Department (Doge), of Elon Musk, could access the Social Security records in his search for fraud and waste under the administration of Donald Trump, qualifying the effort as a “fishing expedition”.
Judge Ellen Hollander granted a temporary restriction order that prevents workers from the Social Security Administration (SSA) from allowing Doge to access records that contain identifiable personal information.
Musk, the richest man in the world and a great political patron for Trump, has been commissioned by the US president to reduce costs and employees in the federal government, a mission that has caused chaos and disruption throughout the country due to mass dismissals and the cancellation of numerous government projects and contracts.
The Trump administration states that Doge has a team of 10 federal employees in the SSA, of which seven have received access to only reading the agency or identifiable personal information systems.
The demand that challenges Doge’s access to these sensitive records was filed in February by the US Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME, for its acronym in English), the Alliance for Retirees of America and the US Federation of Masters.
Government lawyers argued that Doge’s access did not deviate significantly from normal practices within the agency, where employees usually have allowed to search their databases. However, the lawyers of the plaintiffs described this access as something unprecedented.
In his ruling, Hollander also ordered Doge to “return and eliminate” any non -anonymized data obtained from the SSA from Trump’s arrival to power and declared that the agency cannot install or access any software in social security systems.
Social security payments are a vital livelihood for millions of major Americans throughout the country, and any attempt to cut the system is a mining political field. However, Musk has affirmed – without providing evidence – that the system is full of fraud.
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