Overview
- A federal judge in Washington, D.C., vacated the 2025 revamp of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system on Monday, June 22, ruling the changes were unlawful and halting the administration’s use of the enhanced system for voter checks.
- The 75-page opinion concluded the agencies violated the Social Security Act, the Privacy Act of 1974, and the Administrative Procedure Act by consolidating Social Security Administration data, Social Security numbers, and DHS citizenship records into a centralized, searchable clearinghouse without proper authority or procedures.
- The court documented accuracy failures that flagged U.S. citizens as noncitizens, citing local investigations that found large error rates—one Texas county reported roughly 25 percent of SAVE 'noncitizen' matches were already proven citizens—and noted those errors led to cancelled or threatened voter registrations.
- DHS and the Justice Department defended the overhaul as an agency modernization and said they would continue to defend it, while DHS general counsel publicly criticized the ruling and the administration has indicated it is likely to appeal to the D.C. Circuit, creating immediate uncertainty for states and election officials.
- SAVE was created in 1986 to help agencies verify immigration status for benefits, and the ruling underscores how federal privacy rules restrict sharing SSA-held data, a development that could affect other administration plans such as DOJ requests for voter files and proposed DHS grant conditions tied to election checks.