Democracy Watch: Elon Musk’s DOGE barred from accessing sensitive Social Security Administration info, Kristi Noem revokes the legal status of 530,000 temporary legal residents, Tim Walz is no longer muted and more

Socialite Life is a lively celebrity and pop culture website that offers a daily dose of divas, drag queens, hot male celebrities, models, and all the latest celebrity news. Given that our democracy is currently in turmoil, we feel compelled to keep everyone informed about the chaotic situation the Trump administration is creating in this country.

In Democracy Watch, we’ll share a roundup of the most alarming and mostly illegal activities that the Trump administration engages in a few times a week, along with some ridiculous things that Donald Trump and co-president Elon Musk are attempting to do.

We’ll also offer some useful resources to keep you informed about current events and guide you on how you can help prevent the United States from becoming the next Russia.

Tim Waltz is no longer being muted. He’s taking on Elon Musk and using language from the Trump playbook. [The New York Times]

The White House said taking ownership of Ukrainian plants would give them the “best protection.” The idea faces legal hurdles and operational challenges, and it’s unclear if Ukraine would agree to it. [The New York Times]

On Wednesday (March 19, 2025), Jasmine Mooney published one of those stories about her 12-day detention by ICE. Mooney is Canadian; earlier this year, she was working for a U.S. beverage company on a TN work visa (a special nonimmigrant visa that allows Canadians to work in the U.S.). She was stopped in San Diego on March 3rd because of an earlier paperwork issue she’d experienced when reapplying for her visa — and, without warning, she was abruptly jailed for two weeks. This is a must read! [Medium]

President Trump on Friday (March 21, 2025) suggested sending anti-Tesla protesters to a notorious prison in El Salvador if convicted. Trump has put the full weight of the U.S. government behind defending and promoting “first buddy” Elon Musk’s car company, which has seen both its sales and stock price slump. [Axios]

Teachers unions and Democratic politicians joined in denouncing Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at eliminating the US Department of Education, with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) saying simply: “See you in court.” Trump’s move was long trailed, so much so that Randi Weingarten, the head of the AFT – which represents 1.8 million teachers – put out her statement the day before the order was signed. Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, which represents 200,000 members, teachers and other education workers mostly in New York City, said: “We will join our national union and public education allies to protect students and educators. We are working with our partners to file lawsuits to stop this executive overreach. [The Guardian]

How DOGE is making government almost comically inefficient. [The Washington Post]

Elon Musk is bringing back his most controversial gambit from the 2024 presidential election: paying voters as part of a plan to identify and turn out conservative-leaning ones. The super PAC that Mr. Musk founded to funnel his fortune into Republican causes, America PAC, said on Thursday that it was offering $100 to registered voters in Wisconsin who sign a petition “in opposition to activist judges” or refer others to sign it. Mr. Musk has been using the group to spend millions of dollars to elect a conservative candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in an April 1 election. The petition reads: “Judges should interpret laws as written, not rewrite them to fit their personal or political agendas. By signing below, I’m rejecting the actions of activist judges who impose their own views and demanding a judiciary that respects its role — interpreting, not legislating.” [The New York Times – Gifted]

A federal judge has barred Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive systems at the Social Security Administration, saying the group appears to be on a “fishing expedition” that could jeopardize the data of millions of people. “The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” said U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in a 137-page ruling. “It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.” [Politico]

Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek is backing down on a threat to cease operations at the agency after a federal judge blocked staffers at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive data housed at the agency. Dudek’s reversal comes after U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander on Thursday granted a request by several union groups seeking to stop “DOGE affiliates” from accessing the personal and private data of millions of Americans, including their Social Security numbers, medical records, birth and marriage certificates, bank and credit card information and tax information. Dudek, in a series of interviews following the judge’s decision, criticized the ruling as being overly broad and threatened to terminate access to sensitive data for every employee at the agency, arguing they could all be considered “DOGE affiliates.” [NBC News]

After his election, Donald Trump told NBC News that “we’re not touching Social Security,” other than to make it more efficient. But Elon Musk, who now wields enormous power in his role cutting government spending, has recently made comments critical of the program that are coming into conflict with Trump’s promise and worrying members of the president’s own party. Those concerns have prompted some Trump allies to question whether the billionaire should continue to do so many media interviews, four people familiar with the matter told NBC News. A particularly problematic remark came during Musk’s conversation with media personality Joe Rogan in late February, in which he described Social Security as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” A couple of weeks later, the billionaire once again went after Social Security, this time in an interview with Fox Business host Larry Kudlow. Musk, when discussing entitlement spending he deemed wasteful or fraudulent, said the program was “the big one to eliminate.” [NBC News]

The Department of Homeland Security said that it would revoke the temporary legal status of more than 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans welcomed into the US under a Biden-era sponsorship process, according to a notice posted to the Federal Register and signed by the homeland security chief, Kristi Noem. The order cuts short a two-year “parole” program – known as CHNV – under Joe Biden that allowed 532,000 people who had arrived in the US since October 2022 with financial sponsors to obtain two-year work permits to live and work in the US. Noem’s notice said they will lose their legal status on 24 April. The new policy affects people who are already in the US and who came under the humanitarian parole program. It follows an earlier Trump administration decision to end what it called the “broad abuse” of the humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where there is war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the US. [The Guardian]

America’s most celebrated global health program is on life support, former U.S. government officials and global health advocates say. President Donald Trump’s decision to suddenly halt and then terminate most U.S. foreign aid, and GOP concerns that organizations receiving government grants to combat HIV and AIDS were performing abortions, have key congressional Republicans broaching what was once unthinkable: ending PEPFAR, the program President George W. Bush created to combat HIV and AIDS in the developing world. Bush has long championed it and the 25 million lives it’s saved as the best example of his “compassionate conservatism.” But Trump has lumped the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in with other foreign aid programs he sees as indicative of the way Washington has put the needs of foreigners over Americans. It’s part of a seismic shift in GOP attitudes since Trump took over the party. [Politico]

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