Niamh Shackleton
The Trump administration has made a bold suggestion that could affect millions of Americans should they go through with it.
Government employees are once again trying to defend the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was created when Donald Trump returned to office in January.
DOGE is partially headed by Elon Musk and reportedly has around 30 people working under him.
Because DOGE doesn't have full department status, it has faced some issues when accessing certain information; for example, last month a judge temporarily blocked DOGE staff from getting their hands on America's treasury system.
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However, the Democrats behind the complaint failed to make the block permanent and the ban was lifted in the days that followed.
But now DOGE has been hit with another bump in the road after another judge temporarily blocked the agency's employees from accessing Social Security Administration (SSA) systems that hold personal data on millions of Americans.
The decision from US District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland also requires the team to delete any personally identifiable data they may have.
"The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion," she wrote.
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Hollander added: "To be sure, rooting out possible fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the SSA is in the public interest. But, that does not mean that the government can flout the law to do so."
In response to the judge's decision, Leland Dudek, acting SSA commissioner, has threatened to stop anyone from accessing SSA's systems - something that would leave millions of Americans unable to access the benefits they're eligible for.
He's argued that the temporary restraining order issued on Thursday (March 20) is so broad in blocking access to data by 'DOGE affiliates' that it could apply to any social security employee.
Dudek said, as per Bloomberg: "My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates.
"As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems."
He went on to threaten: "Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency."
According to the news outlet, this would affect 73 million Americans who receive old-age or disability benefits.
It comes after unions and retirees asked for an emergency order limiting DOGE access to the agency and its vast troves of personal data.
They said the department’s 'nearly unlimited' access violates privacy laws and presents massive information security risks.
White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said of the recent ruling: "This is yet another activist judge abusing the judicial system to try and sabotage the President’s attempts to rid the government of waste, fraud, and abuse."