Trump administration sued for allegedly purging eligible voters from registration rolls

WASHINGTON — The League of Women Voters and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA), alleging a federal program is improperly removing eligible U.S. citizens from voter rolls.

The legal challenge targets the SAVE program, which was originally designed to verify immigration status for social benefits. The Trump administration expanded the program to allow states to cross-reference voter lists with federal databases to identify non-citizens.

Plaintiffs argue the system utilizes inaccurate data, leading to the misidentification of American citizens as non-citizens.

The lawsuit cites the case of Anthony Nel, a U.S. citizen in Texas whose voter registration was canceled in December 2025 after the SAVE system incorrectly flagged his status.

Twenty-two states, including Florida and Texas, currently have agreements to use the system. Critics contend the program effectively creates an unconstitutional national database of citizens.

The ongoing litigation regarding the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program transcends mere administrative oversight, striking at the heart of a fundamental American tension: the balance between election integrity and voter disenfranchisement. The Trump administration’s expansion of the SAVE framework was predicated on narratives of systemic non-citizen voting—a claim that lacks a robust evidentiary basis. Consequently, the program appears built upon a political mandate rather than a demonstrated operational necessity.

The primary systemic risk lies in the "known error rate." While statistically marginal on paper, these inaccuracies translate into the potential disenfranchisement of thousands of eligible citizens when applied to millions of voter records nationwide. The risk is particularly acute as high-stakes elections approach. Utilizing disparate data sets—originally collected by various agencies for unrelated administrative purposes—inevitably produces synchronization errors that compromise the accuracy of voter rolls.

Furthermore, the integration of data from the Social Security Administration, the IRS, and other federal entities into a centralized verification tool has effectively created a de facto national citizenship database. This development raises significant privacy concerns and creates a mechanism for potential government overreach that extends well beyond the scope of election administration. With 22 states—including several pivotal battlegrounds—already utilizing this system, the legal resolution of this challenge will likely dictate the landscape of American electoral politics for years to come.

For the Vietnamese-American community, and particularly for naturalized citizens, these developments are deeply concerning. Navigating the path to citizenship—whether starting from an F2B family preference, an H-1B work visa, or through TPS—is often a long and arduous journey. Because proving one's status can be so complex, even a minor clerical error in a government database could result in being wrongfully stripped of the right to vote.

Whether you are a business owner in the nail salon industry, a regular at your local Little Saigon phở restaurant, or a professional who has spent years building a life here, this situation underscores the importance of being proactive. It is critical to regularly verify your voter registration and carefully safeguard your naturalization papers and all citizenship documentation.