Thousands of people in the US are being listed as 'dead' after Donald Trump deployed a savage new tactic to reduce the nation's population.
Trump returned to the White House for a second term in January, and to say it's been eventful since then is certainly an understatement.
The 47th POTUS has signed countless executive orders, including renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and a bill eradicating the Department of Education.
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He also signed off an order that will change elections as we know it - something which was passed in the US House on Thursday (April 10).
The bill means that voters will need to show ‘documentary proof of US citizenship’ when registering to vote in federal votes.
Now, the Trump administration has made a controversial move to classify more than 6,000 living immigrants as deceased in a bid to make them leave the country.
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The president has canceled the individuals' social security numbers and removed their ability to work and receive benefits in the US.
Two insiders who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity provided the details on Trump's plans, with the Republican president seemingly moving the immigrants’ names and social security numbers to a database that's usually used for those who have are no longer with us.
It remains unclear at this stage why the 6,000 immigrants were chosen, but the Trump administration has been targeting those who have previously entered the US using the CBP One app, which was introduced by Joe Biden during his presidency.
A group of around 900,000 people who entered the country through its border with Mexico using the app were generally allowed to remain in the US for two years and the BBC reports they were given 'parole' from immigration laws so they could legally work.
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However, the government has since said thousand of immigrants who used in the app in the past couple of years must leave the US 'immediately'.
It's no secret what Trump's views on immigration are with the president signing a number of executive orders to 'reclaim control' of the borders and has gone on to re-ignite a piece of wartime legislation to support his vision of mass deportations.
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a relatively unknown 18th century law that was used in World War Two to justify internment camps, has enabled the Trump administration to deport migrants who have been accused of crimes while bypassing legal proceedings like court challenges.
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Discussing the immigrants that have been deported so far, Trump told reporters in the White House recently: "Many of them were murders, and drug lords, and thieves, and people from prisons from all over the world, and they were people from mental institutions, insane asylums.
"They were taking their mentally insane and they were dumping them into our country."
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Callum Jones