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.”
