Original Date Announced

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced "a comprehensive optimization of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to ensure a single, reliable source for verifying non-citizen status nationwide." The agencies stated that "[a]utomatic status updates . . . will empower federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal agencies to prevent non-citizens from exploiting taxpayer benefits or voting illegally."

Trump 2.0 [ID #1698]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.05.22 USCIS Deploys Updated SAVE Program

USCIS announced that it has updated the SAVE program. In partnership with the Social Security Administration, state and local authorities can now input Social Security numbers in SAVE to help confirm citizenship and prevent non-citizens from voting in elections. To encourage broader use, USCIS has eliminated all charges for state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies to use SAVE as of April 1, 2025.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.06.29 Reported: Trump Administration Is Building a National Citizenship Data System - NPR

NPR reports that DHS, in partnership with DOGE, recently integrated a network of federal databases to build a "searchable national citizenship database" that will allow state and county election officials to check the citizenship status of their voter rolls using data from the SSA and immigration databases. For the first time, officials will be able to query SAVE to look up U.S.-born citizens by Social Security Number. Previously, SAVE only responded to queries about foreign-born citizens or noncitizens.

The article quotes experts expressing concern about the privacy and data security implications of the database; the accuracy of the information it contains; and the absence of a transparent and public process. An anonymous state election official told NPR they were specifically worried about how the Trump administration would use information provided by states for the purpose of immigration enforcement.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.11 Reported: 33 million voters have been run through a Trump administration citizenship check - NPR

NPR reports that SAVE was updated on August 15, 2025, to allow election officials to check if registered voters are U.S. citizens or deceased. Election officials have since used SAVE to review more than 33 million voter records nationwide. In Ohio, this review has led to the planned removal of thousands of inactive voters identified by SAVE as deceased. DHS continues to encourage states to upload data to the system, including by making millions of dollars in grant money contingent on its use. However, what happens to the uploaded data, and who has access to it, remains unclear.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.30 Complaint - League of Women Voters v. US Department of Homeland Security

The League of Women Voters, its state affiliates, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and several individuals filed a class action to challenge the Trump administration's creation of massive government databases consolidating millions of Americans' personal data. The lawsuit alleges that DOGE, DHS, SSA, and other agencies unlawfully merged personal records in violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Constitution. Plaintiffs allege that SAVE was transformed into a national citizenship-database used to purge voter rolls and open criminal investigations. The complaint also contends that USCIS has a "Data Lake" combining records from the IRS, SSA, HHS, and DOL, including information such as SSNs, tax information, medical records, and children's case files. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief. League of Women Voters v. U.S. DHS No. 1:25-cv-03501 (D.D.C).

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