Schofield Alleges 2.7 Million Were Targeted for SSA 'Death' Listing, Sparking Senate Scrutiny
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · Jun 5
Schofield Alleges 2.7 Million Were Targeted for SSA 'Death' Listing, Sparking Senate Scrutiny
3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Jun 5
Summary
A 49-page disclosure to two Senate panels says Trump administration officials explored putting 2.7 million living people into Social Security's death database to strip pay, banking access, credit and benefits.
Schofield said DHS sent SSA the names in April 2025 and that a sample of 25 included people who were alive, including U.S. citizens, green-card holders, teens, elderly people and a widow receiving survivor benefits.
The whistleblower said the aim was to pressure immigrants to leave or seek help and be arrested; SSA lawyers warned the move could violate federal law, and Schofield said he refused to participate.
SSA said the 2.7 million-name plan was never carried out, though 6,100 immigrants were separately marked dead last year; former acting commissioner Leland Dudek told the Post he relabeled the file as "ineligible."
Senate Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal have demanded answers from SSA and former DOGE officials, while the administration defended interagency data sharing and said DOGE's SSA data access was revoked earlier this year.