DHS SAVE Tool Mistakenly Flags Thousands of U.S. Citizens

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security expanded its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) tool via an executive order from President Donald Trump to enable mass-verification of voter citizenship. The tool, which pooled confidential government data, reportedly relied on outdated Social Security Administration information and was deployed rapidly, leading to thousands of U.S. citizens being mistakenly flagged as noncitizens on state voter rolls.

In Missouri, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins directed county clerks to temporarily ban flagged voters from casting ballots. In Texas, Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced that the tool identified 2,724 potential noncitizens and ordered clerks to demand proof of citizenship from those individuals. Local election administrators in both states reported high error rates, particularly among naturalized citizens.

Officials from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services defended the tool, asserting that states must decide how to utilize the provided data. Despite the rollout, bulk searches across seven reporting states identified approximately 4,200 potential noncitizens out of 35 million registered voters, failing to validate claims of widespread noncitizen voting.