WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s move to classify thousands of living immigrants as dead and cancel their Social Security numbers is an escalation of the president’s crackdown on people who were legally allowed to live in the U.S. under programs instituted by his predecessor.

The Trump administration’s relentless campaign to dehumanize immigrants has taken a bureaucratic turn, as new reports reveal a grim effort to extend that dehumanization to official records.