Whistleblower Alleges Trump Plot to Mark 2.7 Million Living as Dead

Former senior Social Security Administration executive Jeremiah Schofield filed a 49-page whistleblower disclosure with the Senate alleging that the Trump administration planned to falsely mark 2.7 million living people as dead in the agency's Death Master File. The plot, linked to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), reportedly aimed to freeze bank accounts and block government benefits to pressure immigrants into self-deporting or visiting agency offices for arrest.

Schofield claims the DHS provided the name list in April 2025 following memos from then-Secretary Kristi Noem. He alleges that he blocked the plan after discovering the list erroneously included U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, teenagers, and senior citizens. He further claims then-acting commissioner Leland Dudek attempted to rebrand the death label as ineligible to circumvent legal warnings from agency lawyers.

The Social Security Administration denied that the list of 2.7 million names was added to the Death Master File, though it acknowledged a separate 2025 effort that incorrectly marked 6,100 immigrants as dead. The Department of Homeland Security defended general inter-agency data sharing as a tool for public safety and identifying criminals.

Senate Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal condemned the alleged weaponization of government records. Warren accused DOGE of sowing chaos, while Blumenthal stated the disclosure provided evidence that the administration sought ways to purposefully hurt immigrants.