Trump administration overrode Social Security staff to list immigrants as dead

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

WP Exclusive
Trump administration overrode Social Security staff to list immigrants as dead

Story by Hannah Natanson, Lisa Rein, Meryl Kornfield 1h

Two days after the Social Security Administration purposely and falsely labeled 6,100 living immigrants as dead, security guards arrived at the office of a well-regarded senior executive in the agency's Woodlawn, Maryland, headquarters.

Greg Pearre, who oversaw a staff of hundreds of technology experts, had pushed back on the Trump administration's plan to move the migrants' names into a Social Security death database, eliminating their ability to legally earn wages and, officials hoped, spurring them to leave the country. In particular, Pearre had clashed with Scott Coulter, the new chief information officer installed by Elon Musk. Pearre told Coulter that the plan was illegal, cruel and risked declaring the wrong people dead, according to three people familiar with the events.

But his objections did not go over well with Trump political appointees. And so on Thursday, the security guards in Pearre's office told him it was time to leave.

They walked Pearre out of the building, capping a momentous internal battle over the novel strategy -- pushed by Musk's U.S. DOGE Service and the Department of Homeland Security -- to add thousands of immigrants ranging in age from teenagers to octogenarians to the agency's Death Master File. The dataset is used by government agencies, employers, banks and landlords to check the status of employees, residents, clients and others.

{snip}

Meanwhile, the effort to move immigrants who are alive into the deaths database is proceeding. On Thursday, Social Security added 102 names, records show.

Elizabeth Dwoskin contributed to this report.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/12/trump-immigrants-dead-social-security/

---

Alternative source:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-administration-overrode-social-security-staff-to-list-immigrants-as-dead/ar-AA1CN7sW

[Dennis Donovan]

1. WaPo: Trump administration overrode Social Security staff to list immigrants as dead

WaPo - (archived: https://archive.ph/0edvN ) Trump administration overrode Social Security staff to list immigrants as dead

A senior executive who objected was marched out of his office and put on leave, while earlier warnings about the agency’s deaths database were ignored.

April 12, 2025 at 6:00 a.m.
By Hannah Natanson, Lisa Rein and Meryl Kornfield

Two days after the Social Security Administration purposely and falsely labeled 6,100 living immigrants as dead, security guards arrived at the office of a well-regarded senior executive in the agency’s Woodlawn, Maryland, headquarters.

Greg Pearre, who oversaw a staff of hundreds of technology experts, had pushed back on the Trump administration’s plan to move the migrants’ names into a Social Security death database, eliminating their ability to legally earn wages and, officials hoped, spurring them to leave the country. In particular, Pearre had clashed with Scott Coulter, the new chief information officer installed by Elon Musk. Pearre told Coulter that the plan was illegal, cruel and risked declaring the wrong people dead, according to three people familiar with the events.

But his objections did not go over well with Trump political appointees. And so on Thursday, the security guards in Pearre’s office told him it was time to leave.

They walked Pearre out of the building, capping a momentous internal battle over the novel strategy — pushed by Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service and the Department of Homeland Security — to add thousands of immigrants ranging in age from teenagers to octogenarians to the agency’s Death Master File. The dataset is used by government agencies, employers, banks and landlords to check the status of employees, residents, clients and others.

/snip

Good morning!

[wolfie001]

2. The list of petty stupid ass shit this orange moron has done in less than 90 days is way too long

Impossible to even comprehend all of this fascist nonsense that's ruining people's lives and our country's future. I'm thinking Venezuela when the whole thing just stops working everywhere all at once.

[LymphocyteLover]

3. pretty fucking evil... goddamn this administration from hell

[Hornedfrog2000]

4. Novel strategy....

Words matter.

[UpInArms]

5. I can think of a couple (or more) who I wish were "listed" as dead

eom

[wordstroken]

6. Sinfully unconscionable!!

Heartbreaking. Please make it stop!
💔

[yellow dahlia]

29. Please make it stop. Yes! n/t

[sinkingfeeling]

7. This reigme needs to be changed.

[Hekate]

36. I still have my Iraq War t-shirt: I Support Regime Change in the US

To which I can only add: the more things change, the more they remain the same

[oasis]

8. Diabolical administration sinks to unbelievable depths.

[bromeando]

9. Social Security

The Government is stealing the money the immigrants worked for.

[Bengus81]

16. Exactly,they'll still have FICA wages withheld for who knows how many more years

and if they apply for SS years,decades from now they'll be told there's nothing in your work file because you died in 2025.

Democracy? Long fucking gone............

[LaMouffette]

10. More stealing. This is a two-fer for them: They deport non-white people AND they get to take the social security they

have paid so far.

What's next? Going to their homes to check between their couch cushions for change? That, of course, would be a job for JD Vance.

[58Sunliner]

11. This is horrific!! I hope someone gets sued.

[EmmaLee E]

18. Unfortunately, the courts are too slow to decide

and then when they do - the Quicker Fucker Upper just ignores them.

[pfitz59]

12. What's to stop them from expanding the 'dead list' to others

who Trump wants to punish? No checks and balances. One day you're posting on DU, next day the government says you're dead. A TV series called 'Burn Notice' covered this for spies. Total Nazi move.

[Tanuki]

15. What's to stop them from disappearing and actually "unaliving"

people on the list? After all, they're already officially dead. These are evil, remorseless sociopaths who are itching to implement a final solution.

[yellow dahlia]

30. Exactly...one step at a time.

I sometimes think the architects of this take over watched every dystopian and futuristic film as inspiration.

[Cherokee100]

13. Death

Death of Social Security by 1,000 cuts/pen pricks. That's the plan, soon nothing will be left, except buying health insurance.

[Bengus81]

17. RW Maga nuts still claim that nothing is going on in the SSA. Yeah..nothing that Jesse Waters

will ever tell you about.

[yellow dahlia]

31. Exactly. Watters and Hannity and the sociopaths on nonnewsmax -

you silly people...nothing to worry about.

[Tanuki]

14. I'm no attorney, but isn't that a felony?

Knowingly falsifying an official government document seems like a serious offense.

[sakabatou]

19. As if this administration cares

[Hekate]

20. How soon before they scoop up naturalized citizens?

This is a nightmare

[yellow dahlia]

32. The makings of a Twilight Zone episode. n/t

[Hekate]

21. You are now an Unperson. All you owned belongs to the State.

[Ms. Toad]

22. Aren't these idiots supposed to be combatting fraud?

Seems to me that deliberately misstating facts (live people are dead) for gain (impeding any financial transactions related to the social security numbers, political gain by ultimately bumping up the deportation number) is fraudulent.

[aggiesal]

23. Remember, these people that were marked as dead, are here legally ..

paying taxes & feeding Social Security.
This screams as an evil racist administration.

[Blue_playwright]

24. I don't understand how this isn't...

… being screamed from the mountaintops that this is fraud.

[SWBTATTReg]

25. So are all of these people marked as dead, they will receive their final SS payments now? I think it's $255 or so...

[Hekate]

33. In case you've never experienced this, the SSA would kindly like a refund of anything the survivors got after the death--

…of their loved one. It can be paid out of the person’s estate, whatever that is.

In other words, before Musk and his Flying Monkeys came along, the SSA took very good care of its and our resources, and afaict “fraud” was miniscule.

[SWBTATTReg]

37. I never did experience anything like this, and I'm not surprised w/ what muskrat and his flying troupe have done.

Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. Thanks for the heads up.

[turbinetree]

26. Now I am waiting for a letter or lack of a deposit...........I really do hate the Federalist Society

and the Heritage Fucking Foundation the same assholes who father use to do business with Stalin............and now look what they are doing to this country the same shit as Stalin............exact same shit..............

[DallasNE]

27. Why Wouldn't They Come Up With A New Code

And have that code function as though the person was dead. What they are doing makes no sense because they are contaminating the database. It sure as hell doesn't pass the best business practices test.

[Hekate]

34. Please understand: contaminating the database is intentional on their part. The Flying Monkeys of Elon...

…are wrecking it all on purpose.

[moniss]

28. If they are allowed to continue on this path they

can declare any living person to be dead. Once you are declared dead, citizen or immigrant, then they can claim you have no rights because you are dead. I know that sounds like ludicrous legal argument but all off their arguments have been like this and it hasn't stopped them nor have adverse court decisions really stopped them.

Obviously the administrator who didn't want to allow the move was in the right because declaring someone dead who you know is alive is making a false statement and knowingly doing so. It is fraud.

[Hekate]

35. Yes they can. I recommend reading Kafka with a chaser of 1984.

[moniss]

38. While screening a Fellini flick on the ceiling

in black and white with the sound muted.

[Hekate]

39. When the world goes mad...

It sounded more fun when Hunter S. Thompson said “When the going gets weird, the weird get going”