#Trump #DOJ agrees to let #DOGE access sensitive #immigration case #data
About a half-dozen DOGE “advisors” won approval from the the Justice Department to access the #ECAS system, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.
#law #privacy #InfoSec #immigration #Musk
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/04/21/doge-ecas-justice-immigration-courts-trump/
The system—the Exec Office for #Immigration Review’s Courts & Appeals System, or #ECAS —is used to store records of immigrants who have interacted w/US immigration system, detailing their name, any addresses, previous immigration-court testimony & history of engagement w/ #law enforcement, among other things. #DOJ’s website states that “ECAS supports the full life cycle of an immigration case” by maintaining “all records & case-related documents in electronic format.”
A team of roughly a half-dozen #DOGE “advisors” placed at the #DOJ won approval from senior officials at the agency on Friday to access the #ECAS system, according to the documents reviewed by The Post.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment Monday, and The Post could not confirm whether the access has been granted or why it was sought.
#DOJ staff were instructed to begin preparing #ECAS accounts for the #DOGE team, the documents show, including fmr hedge fund staffer Adam Hoffman as well as Payton Rehling & Jon Koval, both of whom work at a private equity firm tied to #ElonMusk. The team also includes Marko Elez, who resigned from the govt in Feb after WSJ linked him to a social media account that made #racist posts. He was rehired after #Musk dismissed the significance of the posts.
The push to access the #DOJ system is the latest attempt by the #Trump admin to claw deeper into vast troves of federal data to advance #Trump’s aggressive #deportation efforts.
Last week, officials w/ #ICE who are working with DOGE asked to use a sensitive #Medicare database, including personal #health information & addresses, to help ICE locate people the admin does not THINK are in the country legally.
Just a sample of the dangers of allowing DOGE access to sensitive systems.
🧵 THREAD: A federal whistleblower just dropped one of the most disturbing cybersecurity disclosures I’ve ever read. He's saying DOGE came in, data went out, and Russians started attempting logins with new valid DOGE passwords Media's coverage wasn't detailed enough so I dug into his testimony:
Outside of everything that is morally reprehensible with billionaires outright stealing our data...
...is the fact I have spent years defending against "evil hackers". But when it actually mattered, the threat did not come from the roadside bandits, but from the kings and the fat merchants who own them.
I feel like a fool.
Nonilex
MakeItSo
hallvors
Wulfy—Speaker to the machines
Arthur van der Harg