Washington, D.C., USA: A federal judge of Indian origin has blocked the Trump administration from using an expanded federal immigration database to verify the citizenship status of registered voters, ruling that the initiative violated multiple federal privacy and administrative laws.
In a detailed 75-page decision issued on June 22, Judge Sparkle Sooknanan set aside the administration's 2025 overhaul of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database. The court found that federal agencies had improperly repurposed sensitive personal information and failed to meet legal privacy and procedural requirements.
Judge Sooknanan, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago to parents of Indian descent, currently serves on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was confirmed to the federal bench in December 2024.
The lawsuit challenged the expanded use of the SAVE database, a federal immigration records system that state election officials were encouraged to use to identify potential noncitizens on voter rolls. Voting rights groups argued that the database often contains outdated information and could incorrectly classify naturalized U.S. citizens as noncitizens.
In her ruling, Judge Sooknanan referenced internal Department of Homeland Security documents indicating that naturalized citizens could be disproportionately affected by database errors. The court noted that federal agencies had combined and reused personal data, including citizenship records, despite concerns about reliability and accuracy.
The ruling comes amid ongoing national debates surrounding election integrity and voter access. Advocacy organizations argued that expanded use of the SAVE database could lead to wrongful voter removals and discourage eligible citizens from participating in elections.
Court filings highlighted the case of a naturalized U.S. citizen in Texas who was removed from voter rolls after being flagged as a potential noncitizen during a database review process.
The U.S. Department of Justice stated that it will continue defending the administration's efforts to use the SAVE system for election-related citizenship verification.
