menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Ruling Halting Trump’s Hunt for Noncitizen Voters Won’t End Ongoing Probes

18 0
29.06.2026

Truthout is a vital news source and a living history of political struggle. If you think our work is valuable, support us with a donation of any size.

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.

A few days ago, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s use of a revamped immigration database to identify noncitizens who have registered to vote across the country.

The pointed 75-page ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said the federal government’s actions threatened Americans’ privacy and voting rights.

But what does it mean for the estimated 24,000 registered voters that the Department of Homeland Security said it has already identified for further investigation using the revamped system that’s now been deemed a threat to Americans’ privacy?

Sooknanan’s ruling doesn’t put a halt to any of the investigations that have been carried out in more than two dozen states that used the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, better known as SAVE, over the past year to identify potential noncitizens on their voter rolls.

“The ruling turns the spigot off of a broken system, but it doesn’t go backwards in time,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “The reality is that the thousands of people that are caught up now in the system are still at risk.”

Noncitizens Can’t Vote — 8 States Just Passed Amendments Forbidding It Anyway

Texas, for example, flagged more than 2,700 people as potential noncitizens........

© Truthout