Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements
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Search complete. 56 mentions across 51 episodes found for "Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements".
Oct 4, 2026
KathyNARRATOR
They'll be using it in ways to evaluate whether or not, on an individualized basis, people are not citizens, he said.
KathyNARRATOR
Friday's unsigned emergency order allows states to use the database, known as Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, which had historically been used to determine the immigration status for people seeking certain benefits and licenses in efforts to purge ineligible people from voter rolls.
KathyNARRATOR
But states are not required to use this database, which expanded its scope under the Trump administration last year.
KathyNARRATOR
The Supreme Court's three liberal judges dissented on Friday.
KathyNARRATOR
They'll be using it in ways to evaluate whether or not, on an individualized basis, people are not citizens, he said.
KathyNARRATOR
Friday's unsigned emergency order allows states to use the database, known as Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, which had historically been used to determine the immigration status for people seeking certain benefits and licenses in efforts to purge ineligible people from voter rolls.
KathyNARRATOR
But states are not required to use this database, which expanded its scope under the Trump administration last year.
KathyNARRATOR
The Supreme Court's three liberal judges dissented on Friday.
Jessica RosenthalHOST
... of the SAVE system.
Jessica RosenthalHOST
That stands for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements.
Jessica RosenthalHOST
But it sounds like this survives for now.
Shannon BreamGUEST
It does for now, and here's the thing is, we don't think it's gonna have a major impact on this midterm, because there are a lot of federal laws-
Chris MartensonHOST
LGBTQ advocates and Democratic members of Congress criticized the rescission as a rollback of protections for gay and transgender students.
Chris MartensonHOST
On election integrity, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to use an updated immigration database to verify voter citizenship, staying a June order that had vacated a 2025 update to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system linking Social Security data.
Chris MartensonHOST
Six justices said the challenge likely lacks merit because the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act lets DHS obtain citizenship information from other agencies and that the injunction blocks help to states.
Chris MartensonHOST
Texas ran 18 million registered voters through the system and flagged nearly 3,000 possible noncitizens.
Betsey BellHOST
Now, in a six to three decision, the justices granted a request for emergency relief from the Justice Department to stay a June ruling from a judge in Washington, D.C.
Betsey BellHOST
So how would they know that the judge in D.C. didn't have your best interest at heart when it came to privacy? The judge had actually blocked the Department of Homeland Security's overhauled database called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements or the SAVE system.
Betsey BellHOST
So what they are trying to do is to make sure that if you are not a citizen, you're still allowed for entitlements, you're still allowed to get them, and the Homeland Security was trying to do their homework to verify that the non-citizens were getting entitlements.
Betsey BellHOST
Well, why would they care? Because we care more about the non-citizens than we do about the regular citizens, and I quantified it by saying regular.
Betsey BellHOST
So how would they know that? that the judge in DC didn't have your best interest at heart when it came to privacy.
Betsey BellHOST
The judge had actually blocked the Department of Homeland Security's overhauled database called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements or the SAVE system.
Betsey BellHOST
So what they are trying to do is to make sure that if you are not a citizen, you're still allowed for entitlements.
Betsey BellHOST
You're still allowed to get them.
Steve VladeckGUEST
Systematic, uh, right? That was the S.
Steve VladeckGUEST
Um, [laughs] right? Uh, Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, right? Which is a database that goes all the way back to 1986, and the idea was to have a mechanism for folks, you know, for states, for other sort of entities to be able to check with the federal government whether individual non-citizens were entitled to particular types of benefits.
Steve VladeckGUEST
Um, well, the Trump administration wants now to cross-reference this with Social Security data, which is a big deal in two respects.
Steve VladeckGUEST
One, um, Social Security data is supposed to be a lot more closely guarded and closely held and protected against broad distribution 'cause of the privacy concerns.
Andrew TorrezHOST
But it is expensive to then engage in that inquiry to try and match up each applicant to their immigration status.
Andrew TorrezHOST
And so in 1986, Congress created SAVE, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, to help states and local and tribal governments comply with the requirements of 1320B-7.
Andrew TorrezHOST
And as that name suggests, SAVE was absolutely not created to verify voter registration.
Andrew TorrezHOST
At the time, nobody could have possibly imagined that it would ever be used that way.
R.J. DeaconHOST
This is a per curiam opinion.
R.J. DeaconHOST
Since 1986, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, SAVE, program has allowed federal, state, and local government agencies to verify the citizenship and immigration status of non-citizens applying for public benefits.
R.J. DeaconHOST
For decades, it relied on records maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of State.
R.J. DeaconHOST
Last year, the federal government expanded SAVE's scope.
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