In a report published by The Washington Post, it has been revealed that the Trump administration forced the Social Security Administration (SSA) to falsely classify over 6,100 living immigrants as deceased — a maneuver aimed at stripping them of the legal ability to work and live in the United States.
The decision, which has stunned legal experts and agency insiders, bypassed internal objections and raised red flags about the abuse of federal data systems. The Washington Post‘s investigation, based on interviews with 15 current and former SSA officials and a trove of internal documents, paints a chilling picture of political interference and data manipulation for the purposes of immigration enforcement.
At the center of the controversy is Greg Pearre, a senior SSA executive who resisted the move and warned that declaring living individuals dead was both illegal and dangerous. Pearre’s objections reportedly led to his abrupt removal from the agency’s Maryland headquarters, where he was escorted out by security and placed on administrative leave — likely ending his 25-year federal career.
The falsified entries were added to the Death Master File — a powerful federal database used by banks, government agencies, employers, and insurers to verify whether someone is alive. Being listed effectively erases a person’s financial and legal existence. “You literally become financially paralyzed,” said consumer attorney Jim Francis, who recently represented a woman erroneously declared dead by SSA.
The plan, according to the Post, was spearheaded by Scott Coulter, a recently installed chief information officer and former investment firm executive, appointed by Elon Musk’s controversial U.S. DOGE Service — a pseudo-governmental agency focused on digitization and surveillance. Coulter, reportedly working closely with officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), pushed to use SSA systems to deport immigrants deemed problematic, even when no evidence of criminal activity was found.
The White House defended the move. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Post the action was necessary to “protect lawful American citizens and their hard-earned Social Security benefits,” claiming those added to the database had ties to terrorism or crime — but declined to provide evidence.
Legal experts are calling the action unprecedented and unlawful. Devin O’Connor, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said, “The administration seems to basically be saying they have the right to essentially declare people equivalent to dead who have not died. That’s a hard concept to believe, but it brings enormous risks and consequences.”
Shockingly, the names added to the list include children as young as 13 and elderly individuals in their 70s and 80s. Internal SSA checks found no criminal history or law enforcement interactions for many of those listed. Some were legal immigrants who had lost status due to program changes, rather than criminal actions.
The Post also reported that SSA’s own general counsel is preparing a legal opinion stating that the administration’s use of the death database violates federal privacy laws.
Meanwhile, unions and advocacy organizations have filed new court motions accusing the SSA of defying a restraining order that prohibited unauthorized access to personally identifiable information. Despite this, the agency has continued adding names to the death file — with 102 more recorded as recently as Thursday.
As legal battles mount and internal whistleblowers come forward, the full implications of this strategy are just beginning to unfold. The Washington Post’s report serves as a sobering warning about the vulnerability of vital government systems — and the peril of turning bureaucratic tools into instruments of political agenda.
