NEWS: DHS Expands Migrant Database to Screen U.S. Citizens
Fair Elections Center filing reveals bulk SSN queries, driver's license plans as 26 states weaponize flawed data against voters.
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security has secretly transformed a database originally designed to vet immigrant benefit applicants into a sweeping national citizenship verification system that now screens millions of American-born citizens, according to a blistering letter filed December 1 by the Fair Elections Center, a non-partisan think tank focused on ensuring voter access to the polls.
In May 2025, DHS overhauled the SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) system months before issuing required public notice. The agency only published the legal paperwork on October 31—after the system was already live with state election officials running voter rolls through it. The omission violates the Privacy Act’s requirement for 30-day advance public comment, advocates say.
The transformation is stunning in its scope. By early November, state voting agencies had already submitted over 46 million voter verification queries, and DHS reports 26 states are using or preparin…