DOGE Has Access to Sensitive Labor Department Data on Immigrants and Farm Workers
Leah Feiger Vittoria Elliott Apr 18, 2025 6:00 AM Three DOGE associates have been granted access to systems at the Department of Labor housing sensitive information on migrant farm workers, visa applicants, and more. Photograph: J.Operatives from Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the Department of Labor (DOL) have access to systems that house sensitive data pertaining to immigrants, sources tell WIRED. This access comes as President Donald Trump's administration has continued its crackdown on immigrants around the US, and DOGE has played a key role in collecting personal data on them.
WIRED previously reported that Miles Collins, Aram Moghaddassi, and Marko Elez are all DOGE operatives embedded at the Labor Department.
Collins has access to the DOL's National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) system, according to sources with direct knowledge. This program offers funding to organizations that work with migrant and seasonal farmworkers, as well as organizations working on the state level to support job training for low-income farm workers. Last year, the program disbursed $90 million in grants. Anyone legally allowed to work in the United States and who meets the program's criteria is eligible for support.
'When I say 'migrant and seasonal farm workers,' that does not mean somebody who just arrived from Venezuela or something. It means essentially people who are authorized to work in the United States,' says a DOL employee familiar with the program. 'Maybe there's some misunderstanding even among the DOGE guys.'
According to the source, access to the NFJP's system could provide the Social Security numbers of every person who is a beneficiary of the program, as well as what kind of services a beneficiary received. (Social Security numbers are assigned to US citizens as well as immigrants legally residing and working in the country.)
This kind of data, says the source, is normally 'very, very controlled.'
Instructions to grant Moghaddassi access to data from the DOL's Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) reporting system were also viewed by WIRED. FLAG is responsible for a number of initiatives, including wage protections for foreign workers and visa programs for foreign and temporary workers. Data on visa applicants maintained in FLAG systems, sources say, could include names, work addresses, work history, phone numbers, email addresses, and an 'alien registration number,' which is an identifier assigned to foreign nationals by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). These numbers can be found on green cards, or permanent resident cards, and employment authorization cards. Permanent Labor Certifications (PERM) are also available in the FLAG system. The certification, according to the Labor Department's website, 'allows an employer to hire a foreign worker to work permanently' in the US.
The instructions to grant Moghaddassi data access to FLAG appeared under a heading that reads 'OIG access level,' which likely refers to the DOL's Office of Inspector General. The OIG at the DOL, according to its website, 'investigates fraud, waste, and abuse related to the department's programs, including the foreign labor certification programs.' FLAG is the application portal for these certification programs. Larry Turner, the former Inspector General at the Department of Labor, was fired by Trump in January as part of a broader purge of the position across more than a dozen agencies. Trump has since nominated Anthony D'Esposito, a former US congressman from New York, for the job.
DOGE's access at the DOL also encompasses data that, while not directly immigration-related, could be used in conjunction with data that is. Collins, Moghaddassi, and Elez all have access to the DOL's Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO) program, WIRED has confirmed. This program at the DOL provides funding for people who were incarcerated and supports job training and other employment services.
While the REO database isn't immigration-specific, the data from REO could be cross-referenced with other datasets to figure out the immigration status of formerly incarcerated people benefiting from the program. If DOGE were to find crossover, a source at the agency tells WIRED, this 'would fit so neatly with their messaging about immigrants being criminals and abusing government services.' (Despite claims from Trump's administration, there is no evidence that immigrants present threats to 'national security' and 'public safety' or that they abuse government services—in fact, research shows that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the US.)
Moghaddassi, Elez, and Collins did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did the Department of Labor.
Moghaddassi and Elez have also appeared as DOGE operatives at other federal agencies and have connections to Musk.
Moghaddassi has worked at a number of Musk's companies, including X, Tesla, and Neuralink; according to previous WIRED reporting tracking DOGE operatives, he has also been linked to the Treasury Department and DHS.
Elez, a 25-year-old engineer who has worked at Musk's X and SpaceX, has also appeared at the Treasury and Social Security Administration. While at the Treasury, WIRED reported, Elez had both read and write access to sensitive Treasury systems. Elez briefly resigned from DOGE after racist comments posted by an account he was linked to were discovered by The Wall Street Journal. Elez returned to DOGE after Musk and Vice President JD Vance posted in defense of him on X.
Elez is also staffed at DHS, according to Politico, as part of the administration's effort to bring together data from a number of government agencies to streamline and systematize DHS enforcement and deportation. Elez, despite his initial resignation from DOGE, has seemingly been tasked with a number of unusually sensitive assignments: He is also part of the DOGE team working on a system to sell the $5 million visas that Trump calls 'gold cards.'
Elez is on this team with Edward Coristine, the young DOGE operative known as 'Big Balls.' Coristine also has his hands in many agencies and recently appeared at the Labor Department, sources tell WIRED.
Coristine is another key DOGE staffer planted at DHS. He has also appeared at the Office of Personnel Management, the United States Agency for International Development, the Department of Education, the General Services Administration, and the Small Business Administration.
Coristine did not reply to requests for comment.
'This is an administration that is happy to go after people with legal status if it dislikes something else about them,' says Victoria Noble, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. 'It's just one more source of information that allows this administration to target people who are here legally, but target them for deportation or other more advanced investigations.'
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