WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is expanding a federal verification system to pull in state driver’s license records and other identifiers, a move privacy and elections watchdogs say could expose millions of U.S. citizens to wrongful “noncitizen” flags and new cybersecurity threats. Critics argue the DHS data sharing push is being layered onto voter-roll and immigration checks with vague limits on who can search the data and how long it can be retained, Dec. 22, 2025.
DHS data sharing expansion targets driver’s license and passport records
At the center of the DHS data sharing plan is an overhaul of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, a tool run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that state and local agencies use to verify immigration status for benefits and licenses. In an Oct. 31 notice, DHS said it is adding U.S. citizens by birth to the system and expanding the identifiers that can be used in searches, including full or truncated Social Security numbers, U.S. passport numbers and driver’s license numbers, along with information sourced from the Social Security Administration and state motor vehicle agencies. The DHS system notice for SAVE also says transaction fees have been removed for state, local, tribal and territorial agencies, a change that could broaden the user base.
The expansion is not theoretical. DHS approached Texas officials about a pilot program to add driver’s license data, though it remains unclear whether the state participated, according to reporting by The Texas Tribune. Supporters say integrating driver’s license numbers could help election offices run broader citizenship checks when voter files lack Social Security numbers, but critics warn that the same linkage could turn routine identity records into a powerful cross-agency key. “It is the key that unlocks everything,” University of Pennsylvania professor Michael Morse told the outlet.
Watchdogs warn DHS data sharing could create a “honeypot” of personal data
State officials and privacy advocates say combining driver’s license data with federal identifiers raises the stakes if errors occur — or if the system is breached. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, leading a multistate coalition, called the SAVE expansion “an ill-advised, massive invasion of privacy” and warned it would create a high-value target for hackers and hostile actors, according to a California Department of Justice statement. The Oct. 31 notice also says information in SAVE “may be shared” across DHS components with a “need to know” for homeland security functions, language watchdogs argue invites mission creep even when individual agencies claim narrow intent.
Separate reporting has intensified those fears. ProPublica reported that a DHS-Social Security data-sharing agreement added Social Security data on millions of Americans not previously in DHS databases, and that the documents leave unclear who can access uploaded voter data and the outcomes of queries. Even if most searches resolve quickly, a small error rate can become enormous at scale: the Bipartisan Policy Center said SAVE can return an immediate, conclusive response for about 97% of voters queried by election offices, but its remaining “inconclusive” cases could translate into millions of voters nationwide who must be contacted or investigated.
A familiar trajectory for federal data programs
Watchdog concerns about federal data collection and downstream sharing are not new. In 2018, The Guardian reported that license plate reader data collected at California malls was being sent to a surveillance vendor with ties to immigration enforcement, heightening fears about how everyday mobility data could be repurposed. In 2019, Axios reported DHS backed away from a proposal to require facial recognition screening for all travelers, including U.S. citizens, after privacy pushback. And in 2020, Vox reported DHS and other agencies faced scrutiny over purchasing cellphone location data from commercial vendors, a practice critics said sidestepped traditional warrant safeguards.
For now, DHS data sharing through SAVE is moving forward as states, advocates and election officials weigh how — or whether — to plug into a system that is rapidly expanding in scope. Watchdogs are pressing for tighter limits on access, clearer prohibitions on secondary uses, and transparency around accuracy testing before the next election cycle turns database mismatches into real-world consequences.
