New revelations from an SSA whistleblower, represented by WhistleblowerAid.org and Katz Banks Kumin, show that the administration deliberately targeted millions in illegal scheme to upend their lives

U.S. Senators Blumenthal and Warren demand answers from senior administration officials

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 5, 2026 – The Trump administration sought to assign bogus death dates to 2.7 million people living in the United States, a flagrantly illegal misuse of Social Security Administration (SSA) data intended to pressure immigrants into leaving the country, a new government insider account reveals.

That shockingly high number far exceeds the 6,000 administrative “killings” previously reported last year in The Washington Post. It comes in a legal disclosure by Jeremiah Schofield, a former SSA senior executive, who was in the room when a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) official laid out a plan to “kill off” millions of people in SSA’s master database.

The DOGE official, private equity investor Jon Koval, said in Schofield’s presence that the purpose of “killing off” the 2.7 million living people was to ruin their lives and push them out of the country. Explaining the scheme, Koval said that either the 2.7 million people would self-deport or they would go to their local Social Security office to prove they are alive where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could detain and forcibly deport them.

Schofield’s explosive revelations are being made public today by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren. The senators are seeking answers from SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano and three individuals who worked with DOGE at SSA, including Koval, and demanding the officials preserve all records related to the events detailed in Schofield’s account.

“Jeremiah witnessed Trump Administration officials admit that they were deliberately targeting people whom they had no reason to believe were in fact dead in order to remove them from the Social Security rolls and ultimately from the country,” said Debra S. Katz, one of the attorneys representing Schofield. 

“No-one is safe from this type of weaponization of our Social Security data. If the administration is permitted to ‘kill people off’ and ruin their lives to pursue its anti-immigrant agenda, it will be able to use the same cruel and illegal tactics against anyone who has a Social Security number.”

The consequences of being declared dead in the Social Security rolls are dire: those targeted will have their bank and credit accounts frozen, their mortgages may be cancelled, they will no longer have access to public benefits, and they will not be able to work lawfully. If they are citizens, they will also lose their ability to vote.

“Everyone, regardless of their status in this country, may be at risk of having their lives upended in this way,” Katz added. “Every day, hundreds of millions of Americans put their trust in civil servants to uphold the law and act with professionalism. Jeremiah has come forward because of his commitment to that professionalism, and we owe him a debt of gratitude.”

Schofield is being represented both by WhistleblowerAid.org and by Katz’s law firm, Katz Banks Kumin.

“We are proud of Jeremiah for his courageous decision to bring to light this illegal action by the Trump administration,” said Libby Liu, WhistleblowerAid.org’s CEO. “His disclosure leaves no doubt: this was not simply a mishandling of SSA data, but a coordinated plan to force people off of the Social Security rolls and make their lives intolerable. We are grateful for the personal sacrifices Jeremiah has made to blow the whistle on the administration’s callous and unlawful scheme.”

“As always with the Trump Administration, cruelty is the point,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. “Thanks to this brave whistleblower’s disclosure, we have more evidence that the Trump Administration used DOGE not just to recklessly slash government programs—they were looking for ways to purposefully hurt people, especially immigrants. Senator Warren and I are demanding answers about how DOGE and the Trump Administration weaponized the Social Security Administration to carry out its lawless immigration enforcement agenda.”

“Donald Trump has waged war on Social Security, and DOGE has been the tip of the spear, sowing chaos and corruption everywhere,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). “This looks like an illegal attempt by DOGE to weaponize Social Security to carry out Trump’s cruel immigration agenda.”

The letters from Senators Blumenthal and Warren, which include Schofield’s disclosure, can be found here:

Letter to former DOGE official Antonio Gracias
Letter to former DOGE official Jon Koval
Letter to former DOGE official Payton Rehling
Letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano

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