Post At2GXs3t4CQvmc1Zei by Quantillion@mstdn.io
(DIR) More posts by Quantillion@mstdn.io
(DIR) Post #At12xwDSeNRDgG4uBM by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:16:15Z
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#Trump admin overrode #SocialSecurity staff to list immigrants as dead
A senior executive who objected was marched out of his office & put on leave, while earlier warnings about the agency’s deaths database were ignored.
Two days after the SSA purposely & falsely labeled 6,100 living immigrants as dead, security guards arrived at the office of a well-regarded senior executive in the agency’s Woodlawn, MD, headquarters.#law #immigration #labor #Musk #DOGE https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/12/trump-immigrants-dead-social-security/
(DIR) Post #At13BZ1zeFLhpODB7g by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:18:43Z
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Greg Pearre, who oversaw a staff of hundreds of tech experts, had pushed back on the #Trump admin’s plan to move the migrants’ names into a #SocialSecurity death database, eliminating their ability to legally earn wages &, ofcls hoped, spurring them to leave the country. In particular, Pearre had clashed w/Scott Coulter, the new chief info officer installed by #ElonMusk. Pearre told Coulter that the plan was #illegal, #cruel & risked declaring the wrong people dead.…#law #immigration #labor
(DIR) Post #At13RkeIDmwyUcqQZU by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:21:38Z
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But his objections did not go over well w/ #Trump political appointees. And so on Thurs, the security guards in Pearre’s office told him it was time to leave.They walked Pearre out of the building, capping a momentous internal battle over the novel strategy—pushed by #Musk’s #DOGE & #DHS — to add thousands of immigrants ranging in age from teenagers to octogenarians to the agency’s Death Master File. The dataset is used by govt agencies, employers, banks & landlords…#law #immigration #labor
(DIR) Post #At13k5gOkxDgwPZfCy by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:24:57Z
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The episode also followed earlier warnings from senior #SocialSecurity ofcls that the database was insecure & could be easily edited without proof of death—a vulnerability, staffers say, that the #Trump admin has now exploited.
The warnings & Pearre’s removal have not previously been reported.#law #immigration #labor #Musk #DOGE
(DIR) Post #At13qVN0AIBmLVYnEO by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:26:07Z
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This account of how the #Trump admin pushed #SocialSecurity to wrongly declare thousands of living immigrants dead is based on interviews w/15 people, including current & former Social Security ofcls, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, as well as more than two dozen pages of records obtained by WaPo.#law #immigration #labor #Musk #DOGE
(DIR) Post #At149ugQH7WeM6tn1M by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:29:37Z
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Experts in govt, consumer rights & #immigration #law said the #Trump admin’s action is illegal. Labeling people dead strips them of the #privacy protections granted to living individuals—& knowingly classifying living people as dead counts as falsifying govt records. This is in addition to the #harm inflicted on those declared dead,who become unable to legally earn a living wage or draw benefits… #SocialSecurity itself has acknowledged that an incorrect death declaration is a “devastating” blow.
(DIR) Post #At14iBFdBNjTaNhtmi by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:34:40Z
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…Staffers at #SocialSecurity began raising the alarm about the urgent need to address a flaw in the agency’s deaths database in Feb….
Anybody granted the appropriate permissions within Social Security could mark someone as dead, employees realized, w/o having to prove their demise in any way — e.g. by referencing…a death certificate. In emails & meetings that rose up the management chain, employees warned that the dataset was vulnerable to manipulation….#law #immigration #labor #Trump #Musk
(DIR) Post #At14qdghL8je64Ouiu by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:37:17Z
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Employees’ fear was partly that a bad actor who gained access…could label groups of living individuals as dead to target them for punishment….Some of those raising the alarm worried specifically that the #Trump admin might try to use the database to go after people Trump dislikes….
Management indicated they were looking into the matter & exploring a proposed solution that would have required some additional proof of death before placing them into the Death Master File….#law #immigration
(DIR) Post #At152OxvtygFud4TIW by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:39:28Z
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But no solution was enacted.
Entry into the Death Master File has potentially severe consequences, effectively erasing a person’s ability to live & draw wages in the US, acc/to Jim Francis, a consumer law attorney. Francis—who recently sued #SocialSecurity for mistakenly labeling a MD woman dead—noted that the agency sells its death info to creditors, pension companies, life insurers & credit reporting firms.#law #immigration #labor #Trump #Musk
(DIR) Post #At15TNeGuI1Le7jtQG by kimlockhartga@beige.party
2025-04-12T13:44:19Z
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@Nonilex this is all so fucking frightening.
(DIR) Post #At15mTiSZWsnxynxKa by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:47:48Z
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…Around the same time #SocialSecurity staff were warning that the agency’s ability to declare deaths could be exploited, #DHS & #DOGE arrived…. Soon, reps of both groups were hunting for ways to repurpose…databases to identify & deport…immigrants.
A small staff of career employees was assigned to work w/ #Musk’s team on the project….They were concerned that they might be facilitating something illegal, asking…if they were at risk of going to jail for the work they were doing….#law #Trump
(DIR) Post #At15xofF1n1E7ZhoPo by steve@s.yelvington.com
2025-04-12T13:49:43Z
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@Nonilex Seems to me that when they mark an account as "dead" when the account holder is alive, that constitutes fraudulent financial recordkeeping.
(DIR) Post #At15zuU4MRKGkZTj3A by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:50:13Z
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By March, #DOGE’s focus on #immigration issues was clear…. DOGE reps were asking a lot of questions about which kinds of address, wage & tax data they could access, & how that information could be used to determine citizenship status, the people said.One official chose to resign rather than remain involved in what he saw as an illegal attempt to repurpose the agency for immigration enforcement.#law #labor #Trump #Musk #SocialSecurity
(DIR) Post #At1654Kv9o98krewDY by GhostOnTheHalfShell@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:51:08Z
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@Nonilex What they can do to immigrants they can do to citizens.
(DIR) Post #At16D48JnSmQRPZsR6 by EndicottAuthor@mastodon.social
2025-04-12T13:52:31Z
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@Nonilex I don't think anyone in the administration, and DOGE, will follow any rules they don't like.
(DIR) Post #At16UXyC7Mm9tvB69Y by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:55:46Z
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#DHS, meanwhile, at first made less intrusive requests….Agents spent much of Feb & March trawling through years of records in E-Verify…to identify potentially fraudulent #SocialSecurity numbers…. Agents then reached out to Social Security asking for help preventing this type of fraud….
DHS also requested that SSA staff turn over the addresses of undocumented immigrants so #ICE could track them down for #deportation….#law #immigration #labor #Trump #Musk
(DIR) Post #At16hNJd2dIQccJwR6 by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T13:58:04Z
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It was not the first time that #Trump ofcls sought to make #SocialSecurity hand over some of the government’s most sensitive personally identifiable information to facilitate #deportations. During Trump’s first term, a White House aide requested the names & Social Security numbers of employers thought to have hired undocumented immigrants….At the time, the general counsel’s office at Social Security said no. They had determined such a search would be a fishing expedition…& would break the #law…
(DIR) Post #At16jDPapnnuU7zJYm by dbc3@mastodon.world
2025-04-12T13:58:23Z
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@Nonilex here is a thread from altssa on blueskyhttps://bsky.app/profile/altssa.altgov.info/post/3lmkrnpxen222
(DIR) Post #At16wW2OtYS816TwRs by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T14:00:48Z
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No such resistance emerged this time.
In recent weeks, #DHS’s requests shifted, acc/to a senior #SocialSecurity ofcl. #Immigration agents began meeting w/ #DOGE reps at the agency to discuss how they could achieve their larger goal of pushing out tens of thousands of migrants that #ICE was struggling to apprehend & deport, the official said.
That request soon morphed into the idea of placing immigrants into the deaths database….#law #labor #Trump #Musk
(DIR) Post #At17EqfguysBDvbMPI by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T14:04:08Z
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#LelandDudek — the acting commissioner who was elevated from a low-level position after displaying public loyalty to #DOGE — had qualms about the task, acc/to 2 people with knowledge of his thinking. He thought it was illegal, the people said.
Then #DHS Secy #KristiNoem intervened — & Dudek agreed to move forward.On Monday, acc/to 4 people familiar with the matter, Dudek signed 2 memorandums with Noem allowing the database action.…#law #immigration #labor #Trump #Musk
(DIR) Post #At17eoNy2VKTfBgwIy by LordOfQuails@ioc.exchange
2025-04-12T14:08:47Z
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@Nonilex Apart from the obvious illegality of the whole thing, it raises some follow up questions:Will the 'dead' be notified of their changed status?If so, how? and does this not already include an acknowledgement of the contrary?Can 'dead' people commit crimes?Can 'dead' people be held accountable for anything?Why does anyone still believe the Republican administration anything - specifically claims about terrorism, fraud and/or crimes, given that they are constantly bending/breaking the rules themselves?
(DIR) Post #At17ev8yucV8cjjZQ0 by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T14:08:49Z
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The next day, 6,100 mostly Hispanic names & their attached #SocialSecurity numbers were added to the Death Master File, acc/to records reviewed by The Post.
The #Trump White House told WaPo that the ~6k immigrants all have links to either terrorist activity or criminal records. [yeah right. a) no way did they bother investigating & b) we saw who they’ve labeled criminal/terrorists w/the #ElSalvador flights] The official did not provide evidence of the alleged crimes or terrorist ties…#law
(DIR) Post #At17vRHDD9WmunSbPk by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T14:11:50Z
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The ofcl said *some* are included on an FBI terror watch list.
The immigrants added to the death database include a 13-yr-old, a 14-yr-old & two 16-yr-olds—as well as one person in their 80s & a handful in their 70s….
Agency staff have since checked the names & #SocialSecurity numbers of some of the youngest immigrants against data the agency typically uses to search for criminal history & found NO EVIDENCE of crimes or law enforcement interactions, staffers said.#law #immigration #Trump
(DIR) Post #At18EQy8ZyDVSlb0EK by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T14:15:15Z
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Among the people targeted were immigrants w/valid #SocialSecurity numbers who had lost legal status, such as those who participated in #Biden work programs that ended under the #Trump admin….
Within #SocialSecurity, the general counsel’s office is preparing an opinion that will find the Trump admin’s unprecedented use of the death database a violation of #privacy #law…. The opinion will take issue w/the agency knowingly & falsely declaring that living people are dead….#immigration
(DIR) Post #At18N3vTcayabRSvrM by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-12T14:16:49Z
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On Fri, a group of unions & an advocacy org suing the #SocialSecurity Administration argued in a new court filing that the agency had violated a temporary restraining order blocking #DOGE from the agency’s systems w/personally identifiable information by adding names to the deaths database.
Meanwhile, the effort to move immigrants who are alive into the deaths database is proceeding. On Thurs, Social Security added 102 names, records show.#law #immigration #labor #Trump #Musk
(DIR) Post #At18cxo88axoGBbzIe by yuhasz01@mastodon.social
2025-04-12T14:19:40Z
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@Nonilex Ok good Noem , the dog killer MAGA skank, calling the shots for other agencies now to violate Federal law.. ....
(DIR) Post #At19O0GIpW8RTzDf3Q by yuhasz01@mastodon.social
2025-04-12T14:28:10Z
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@Nonilex Social Security "Death Master File"has frightening potential for horrible abuses by Maga fascists. We have death Camps and now death Databases.....taking Orwell 1984 few steps forward in fascism
(DIR) Post #At19Z4luP31gefHaYi by geonz@mathstodon.xyz
2025-04-12T14:30:09Z
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@Nonilex we need to figure out hacks, too.
(DIR) Post #At19l2JXMlDOVXiPLs by CindyWeinstein@zirk.us
2025-04-12T14:31:58Z
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@Nonilex #DeathCult chapter I've lost track.
(DIR) Post #At1CBuCBrHJz3WDcYq by Robo105@mastodon.social
2025-04-12T14:59:36Z
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@Nonilex The evangelical right call this making them 'unhuman' because they are outside God's circle of trusthttps://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/new-apostolic-reformation-christian-movement-trump/681092/ (JANUARY 9, 2025)
(DIR) Post #At1HmzEMbIGz9nji2C by Red_Shirt_no2@c.im
2025-04-12T16:02:19Z
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@Nonilex An administration that will violate the law to punish immigrants will violate the law to punish ANYONE.#impeachtrump
(DIR) Post #At1Hupp1SwMyIEcqeG by Red_Shirt_no2@c.im
2025-04-12T16:03:45Z
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@Nonilex So if they’re “dead”, does that get them off the terrorist watch list?
(DIR) Post #At1KrQz3em8YFjODXU by wronglang@bayes.club
2025-04-12T16:36:13Z
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@Nonilex of course they now also made the data worthless for fraud detection so we can expect more of that too since it's no longer a useful indicator of someone being alive.
(DIR) Post #At1L0ULoVWfxIlLoOW by Bam@sfba.social
2025-04-12T16:38:22Z
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@Nonilex A few stories of people accidentally placed on the DMF. https://www.npr.org/2018/07/05/626049398/what-happens-when-bureaucracy-accidentally-kills-youhttps://www.denverpost.com/2016/11/06/what-happens-when-social-security-accidentally-declares-you-dead/And, in the unlikely event that it happens to you or someone you know:https://www.ssa.gov/faqs/en/questions/KA-02917.html
(DIR) Post #At1Qh2tEyv3UM9699E by cynblogger@sfba.social
2025-04-12T17:42:03Z
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@Nonilex Besides the fact that declaring a non-dead person to be dead is a BIG FAT LIE!
(DIR) Post #At1UjANuUGZlzpi6Ma by crecente@games.ngo
2025-04-12T18:27:17Z
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@Nonilex "Do you suspect someone of committing fraud, waste, or abuse against Social Security? You can submit a report online at oig.ssa.gov or contact SSA's OIG fraud hotline at 1-800-269-0271."
(DIR) Post #At1WT7Mw8Df1uzjKZE by tdwllms1@mstdn.social
2025-04-12T18:46:46Z
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@Nonilex The United States government… has officially said they are dead… out of spite.. but none-the-less… dead. I wonder…. Can a dead person be held accountable for a crime?
(DIR) Post #At1Zy7vsNzjyVPYCuW by tessarakt@mastodon.social
2025-04-12T19:26:00Z
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@Nonilex That's not a country, that's a joke.
(DIR) Post #At25cAwfhVta0oV1UG by f800gecko@mastodon.online
2025-04-12T20:40:31Z
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@MissConstrue @Nonilex Falsification of government records is the fundamental crime here, from which the rest of the evil flows. Government records = public records (even when classified) retained for the public good. Public records = ours. Period. The groper has his hand in America's pants now.He loves it. That's all it's about. Only the billionaires have a plan.
(DIR) Post #At25cCNIO0moRfxncm by f800gecko@mastodon.online
2025-04-12T23:47:18Z
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@MissConstrue @Nonilex More perspective via commentary of @pluralistic in which the link was embedded:https://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2025/04/deliberately-polluting-the-death-master-file-violates-the-fair-credit-reporting-act.html
(DIR) Post #At2807f7l5IMgjq2AS by Bobblegagger@mastodon.world
2025-04-13T01:47:16Z
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@NonilexPair that news with this, and you have a recipe for millions to have SS and SSDI payments mysteriously interrupted based on dissonant associations mined in the database. THIS IS REALLY SERIOUS.https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/us/politics/trump-musk-data-access.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
(DIR) Post #At2GXs3t4CQvmc1Zei by Quantillion@mstdn.io
2025-04-13T03:23:05Z
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@Nonilex Sounds like the kind of thing the 3rd Reich would do. Although the more recent, enduring reference will soon be the Trump Reich.
(DIR) Post #At2U0Ri1QIK3qzkkRU by pdkoenig@mstdn.social
2025-04-13T05:53:55Z
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@Nonilex I’m curious how this could impact any future court actions against those placed on the lists. Can they now claim the government deliberately lied about thee and tried to inflict punishment without a trial?