DHS’s Data Grab Is Getting Citizens Kicked Off Voter Rolls, New Complaint Says

Even earlier winning reelection, President Donald Trump and his supporters enactment migration astatine the halfway of their messaging. In summation to different conspiracy theories, the right-wing went each successful connected the mendacious assertion that immigrants were voting illegally successful ample numbers. The Trump medication has since poured billions of dollars into migration enforcement, and successful March, Trump issued an enforcement bid requiring the Department of Homeland Security to guarantee that states person “access to due systems for verifying the citizenship oregon migration presumption of individuals registering to ballot oregon who are already registered.”

In May, DHS began encouraging states to cheque their elector rolls against migration information with the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, tally by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). SAVE present has entree to information from crossed the national government, not conscionable connected immigrants but connected citizens arsenic well.

Experts person warned that utilizing disparate sources of data—all collected for antithetic purposes–could pb to errors, including identifying US citizens arsenic noncitizens.

According to the plaintiffs successful a caller ineligible complaint, it appears that it’s already happening.

The complaint, filed against DHS and the Social Security Administration (SSA) successful the Washington, DC, District Court by the League of Women Voters and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), alleges that the caller SAVE enlargement has led to American citizens being kicked disconnected authorities elector rolls and that the instauration of what amounts to a nationalist citizenship information slope is unconstitutional.

“Eligible US national voters volition beryllium wrongfully purged from elector rolls based connected inaccurate information from the illegally overhauled SAVE system,” says Nikhel Sus, lawman main counsel astatine Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics successful Washington, which is counsel for the plaintiffs successful the case. DHS did not respond to a petition for comment.

SAVE was created successful 1986 arsenic a mode for states to cheque whether immigrants applying for authorities services were eligible to person them, and it did not person entree to accusation connected natural-born American citizens. But arsenic the Trump medication has sought to ace down connected immigration, DHS has radically expanded the tool.

Last April, WIRED reported that SAVE was querying information from the SSA, the Internal Revenue Service, and authorities elector data. On May 22, DHS announced a “partnership” with the SSA and rolled retired SAVE arsenic a instrumentality that authorities and section governments could usage for elector verification. The goal, according to USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser, was to “identify and halt aliens from hijacking our elections.” Twenty-two states, including Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, person agreements successful spot to usage SAVE to verify voters’ citizenship by bulk-uploading accusation from elector rolls and idiosyncratic recognition information, the suit alleges. But successful doing so, the ailment argues, immoderate of these states are already disenfranchising eligible voters.

In October, Texas caput of authorities Jane Nelson announced that the authorities had identified 2,724 “potential noncitizens” who were registered to vote. One of those, Anthony Nel, is, successful fact, a US citizen. According to the complaint, SAVE identified Nel arsenic a noncitizen “based connected outdated data, starring to his elector registration being wrongfully canceled successful December 2025.” In effect to a petition for comment, Texas adjunct caput of authorities for communications Alicia Pierce referred WIRED to the October property merchandise wherever the authorities announced the findings from its usage of SAVE.

“We're talking astir a known mistake complaint that volition result—and already has resulted—in aggregate radical being kicked disconnected the elector rolls, going into a captious election,” says John Davisson, manager of litigation and elder counsel astatine EPIC, which is 1 of the plaintiffs successful the case.