politics
Federal Judge Blocks Modified SAVE Database Over Privacy Concerns in Citizenship Verification
U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan ruled Monday that the updated Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system violates federal privacy laws by centralizing personal data. The decision halts a key tool in President Donald Trump's election-related executive order.
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A federal judge has blocked the Department of Homeland Security from using an updated version of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, known as SAVE, to verify citizenship status for voter registration and federal benefits programs.
U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan issued the preliminary injunction on June 22, 2026, finding that the modified SAVE system violated the Privacy Act by aggregating personal identifying information from multiple federal databases into a centralized repository.
The ruling states that Congress expressly prohibited such centralization when it enacted restrictions on the creation of a federal data center containing information about individuals.
The modified SAVE system was developed following President Donald Trump's January 2025 executive order directing federal agencies to implement enhanced citizenship verification procedures. At least 25 states had begun using the expanded SAVE database for voter roll maintenance since April 2025, conducting bulk queries that scanned at least 67 million voter registrations using name, date of birth, and Social Security number combinations.
The court order notes that the system had flagged some individuals as noncitizens who were in fact U.S. citizens, leading to their removal from state voter rolls. Plaintiffs in the case, including the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and five individual U.S. citizens, argued that the database expansion exceeded statutory authority.
Nikhel Sus, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, stated after the ruling that the decision reinforces limits on federal data sharing across agencies. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the injunction.
The SAVE program originated under provisions of federal immigration law requiring the Department of Homeland Security to assist other agencies in determining whether individuals are eligible for federal benefits based on citizenship status. The modified version expanded the system's query capabilities beyond its prior individual verification functions.
