A federal judge in Florida has ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to restore access to its SAVE immigration database for Florida, Ohio, Iowa, and Indiana, saying the department violated a court-approved settlement after disabling search tools used to verify citizenship for voter rolls.
The ruling conflicts with a separate federal court order from a different judge that halted the nationwide use of the same database.
He said the department breached a November 2025 settlement agreement after disabling those features in response to another federal judge’s ruling.
The 2025 SAVE revamp allowed users to search many records at a time, and gave them access to individuals’ Social Security numbers.
The four states argued that the expanded tools helped them verify citizenship information for voter registration and other state functions.
Wetherell rejected arguments that he could not order the SAVE features restored because another federal agency involved in the SSN search function was not a party to the case. He said DHS remained responsible for meeting its obligations under the settlement agreement.
“Finally, the Court did not overlook amici’s argument that the Court cannot grant Plaintiffs the relief they are seeking in their motion because the agency whose cooperation is necessary for the SSN feature is not a party to this case but is a party to Judge Sooknanan’s case,” the order stated. “That argument is not without some merit, but it does not persuade the Court that it should not order Defendants to comply with their obligations under the settlement agreement and leave it to them to figure out how best to fulfill those obligations.”
The order comes on the heels of a June 22 ruling by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in Washington, D.C., who blocked the expanded SAVE features, saying they violated federal privacy protections.
She agreed with voting rights and privacy groups who argued that the changes increased the risk of inaccurate citizenship determinations, and could affect eligible voters.
Wetherell concluded that the DHS remained bound by the Florida settlement agreement, while Sooknanan concluded that the expanded SAVE features likely violated federal privacy laws.
Wetherell was appointed by President Donald Trump, while Sooknanan was appointed by former President Joe Biden.
Reuters contributed to this report.
