They’re MARKING Migrants as “DEAD”!

Social Security Administration whistleblower fired after refusing to label living migrants as “dead” in government databases—a Trump strategy to cut off their benefits and force self-deportation.

At a Glance

• Trump administration is marking migrants as “deceased” in Social Security’s death master file to cut off their financial resources
• Over 6,300 migrants who entered legally under Biden-era programs have been placed on the death file
• SSA manager Greg Pearre was escorted out by security after refusing to implement the policy
• Policy targets approximately 1.4 million migrants with previously legal status that is now revoked
• White House defends strategy as protecting benefits for American citizens and encouraging self-deportation

Government Playing God With “Death” Records

In a move that would make even George Orwell raise an eyebrow, the Trump administration has begun the surreal practice of declaring living people dead. Not metaphorically—they’re literally adding migrants to Social Security’s “death master file” to cut them off from financial services. This Kafkaesque strategy targets approximately 1.4 million migrants who entered through Biden-era programs, with over 6,300 names already added to the list. Rather than simply enforcing existing immigration law, bureaucrats are now playing mortician with government databases.
The policy specifically targets migrants who entered the U.S. via the Biden administration’s CBP One app, which allowed over 900,000 people to enter through official entry points with temporary parole status and work authorization. Now those same migrants are being told their legal status is revoked and they have just seven days to self-deport or face arrest.

Watch coverage here.

Conscientious Objector Shown the Door

When Social Security Administration manager Greg Pearre refused to participate in what he apparently viewed as administrative fraud—marking living people as dead—the response was swift and telling. Security guards escorted him out of SSA headquarters in Woodlawn, Maryland. Apparently, having a conscience about falsifying federal records is now grounds for removal. Meanwhile, Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek informed staff that the financial lives of listed migrants would be “terminated”—a disturbingly clinical euphemism for what amounts to bureaucratic execution.

“This is an unprecedented step” – Devin O’Connor.

The administration’s notices to these migrants leave no room for misinterpretation: “If you do not depart the United States immediately you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States — unless you have otherwise obtained a lawful basis to remain here.” They helpfully add, “Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you.” Nothing says “land of opportunity” quite like a government letter threatening to hunt you down.

White House Defends Financial Death Sentence

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt offered the administration’s justification with a straight face, claiming “the Trump Administration is protecting lawful American citizens and their hard-earned Social Security benefits, and ensuring illegal immigrants will no longer receive such economic entitlements.” Let’s translate: We’re labeling living people as dead in federal databases to achieve our policy goals. Yet strangely, nowhere in the Constitution does it authorize declaring living souls deceased to enforce immigration law.

“President Trump promised mass deportations, and by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport” – Elizabeth Huston.

According to a White House official, some migrants on the list are receiving Medicaid benefits, unemployment, and student loans—as if this somehow justifies digital death certificates. But here’s the rub: many of these migrants entered legally, worked legally, and paid into systems legally under programs the previous administration created. Now the government is changing the rules retroactively and falsifying federal records to enforce the new policy. If that’s not the definition of government overreach, what is?

Constitutional Questions and Dangerous Precedents

The constitutional implications here are staggering. If the government can declare you “dead” for administrative purposes when you’re very much alive, what’s to stop them from using this tactic on other politically inconvenient groups? Today it’s migrants who entered under now-revoked programs; tomorrow it could be anyone who falls out of favor with the bureaucratic state. While securing our borders is essential, falsifying death records to achieve policy goals crosses a line that should concern every American who values due process and limited government.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem insists the plan is about preventing illegal immigrants, including “suspected terrorists,” from accessing privileges meant for lawful residents. But when government starts fabricating life-or-death status in official records, we’ve moved from enforcement to something far more troubling. At some point, we have to ask if the methods we’re using to enforce the law are undermining the very principles those laws are supposed to protect.