The data — which includes both information on people who pay child support and employment information for a much wider universe of people — is stored within the Health and Human Services Department and is used to collect child support payments. One of those databases is the National Directory of New Hires, which contains employment details even for people with no nexus to child support though their information is eventually wiped. “For the (National Directory of New Hires), it’s a general population database of all US workers in the country whether or not they have anything to do with child support,” said Vicki Turetsky, who served as commissioner of HHS’ child support enforcement from 2009 to 2016. Undocumented immigrants can receive child support because it’s not a public benefit, nor paid by the taxpayer. Ron Wyden and Sheldon Whitehouse also raised alarm over Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency attempting to access the national child support database, noting that it contains identifying information of Americans.

Source: CNN March 11, 2026 22:46 UTC