US court blocks Trump administration from using SAVE database for voter citizenship checks

A federal judge in the US has halted the implementation of updates to a federal database called SAVE, which the Trump administration intended to use to verify citizenship in state voter rolls. The ruling is considered one of the significant judicial decisions against President Donald Trump's attempts to reshape election processes through federal agencies.

US District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan ruled in a decision announced on Monday that recent changes made to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program pose serious risks to voters. The court warned that the system could aggregate sensitive personal data, leading to the accidental removal of eligible voters from voter rolls.

In her ruling, Sooknanan stated that the federal government was "knowingly violating the privacy rights of American citizens in a way that threatens the sacred right to vote," adding, "This court cannot stand idly by while that happens."

The judge also noted that Congress has explicitly prohibited the government from centrally collecting personal identification information belonging to Americans. The ruling stated that the federal agencies operating the SAVE program were aware that the database violated these legal protections.

SAVE SYSTEM AT THE CENTER OF THE DEBATE

The SAVE program was created by the US Department of Homeland Security to prevent public benefits from being directed to non-citizens. The Trump administration significantly expanded the program's search capacity in April 2025. Since that date, more than half a dozen states have used the system to check voter rolls; it was reported that at least 67 million voter records were scanned through the program.

The Trump administration argues for the involvement of federal agencies with broader powers on the grounds of preventing non-citizens from being illegally included on state voter lists. However, critics characterize the modified SAVE system as an illegal centralized federal voter information database.

James Percival, Chief Counsel for the US Department of Homeland Security, reacted to the ruling on social media. Percival said, "It is surprising that the Left is fighting so hard to prevent us from solving problems they insist do not exist." The Department of Homeland Security pointed to Percival's post as its statement regarding the ruling.

The US Department of Justice stated that it would continue to defend Trump's immigration enforcement agenda and the Department of Homeland Security's use of the SAVE system to verify citizenship.

Trump's initiatives to change election rules in his second term have included requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration, not counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, and preventing the US Postal Service from sending ballots to individuals not on the approved voter list. Most of these steps have been halted by courts on the grounds that the authority to set election rules is granted to the states and Congress under the Constitution.

In the US, it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote. This act can be considered a serious crime with consequences that can lead to deportation. However, according to available data, such cases are rare and account for a very small share of state voter rolls.