DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened on Friday to prosecute state election officials — with potential prison time, fines, and funding cuts — if they refuse to hand over voter rolls to the SAVE database. Hours earlier, President Trump used a primetime address to repeat claims of widespread noncitizen voter fraud. The SAVE system (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) originally served to verify citizenship for benefit applicants. The Trump administration repurposed it in 2025 to check voter rolls. A federal court blocked that use in June, ruling it violated federal privacy law.

1. The Administration Says States Must Act Now (DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin)

The White House says 250,000 noncitizens have registered to vote in four states — states that won't cooperate will lose federal grants and face prosecution.

Mullin put all 50 states on notice on Friday. He said officials who get the data from DHS and choose not to act "can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time."

The administration's case rests on a claim of 250,000 noncitizen voters. DHS says it found that number registered across California, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and sent letters to those states' secretaries of state demanding a reply within two weeks.

States that don't comply will lose their federal election security money. Mullin tied CISA grant funding — which states use to run and secure their elections — directly to participation in the SAVE program.

2. But Courts and State Officials Say the Database Can't Be Used (David Becker, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Judge Sparkle Sooknanan)

A federal court blocked this database in June, and 15 courts have ruled the government can't demand voter data from states.

The SAVE database is already under a court order. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan ruled on June 22 that the administration's overhaul of the SAVE system was unlawful. She wrote that it "knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens" and violated federal laws restricting disclosure of Social Security numbers. DHS can't legally use it for voter rolls.

The 250,000 figure doesn't hold up. Mullin offered no methodology. Independent reporting found the number came from comparing voter rolls to commercial data — a method election experts say is too imprecise to distinguish citizens from noncitizens. Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice, called it "almost certainly false or wildly overstated."

The database already got citizens wrong. Texas used the modified SAVE system and flagged 2,724 "potential noncitizens" for county officials. At least 11 turned out to be U.S. citizens — whose voter registrations Texas had threatened to revoke.

No court has sided with the administration on demanding voter data. David Becker at the Center for Election Innovation and Research says 15 federal courts — including 6 Trump-appointed judges — have consistently ruled the federal government can't legally demand states' voter records. California Governor Gavin Newsom responded Friday: "California has free, fair, and secure elections and we will fight for them. Try us."

3. And the Senate Still Can't Pass the Underlying Bill (Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Sen. John Cornyn)

The SAVE America Act — which would make voter roll compliance a legal requirement — has failed three Senate votes, and Republicans don't have 51 votes to pass it even without the filibuster.

The SAVE America Act has failed three times in the Senate. Its most recent vote, on June 4, went 48-50 — four Republican senators (Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, and Thom Tillis) voted against it alongside every Democrat.

The SAVE Act doesn't have 51 Senate votes. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said plainly: "We don't have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it." He's told colleagues the midterms will be "about the economy."

Cornyn's reversal hasn't moved the vote count. Sen. John Cornyn reversed his long-standing support for the filibuster and now backs changing the rules to pass the SAVE Act — calling it "an evolution in my own thinking." But Republicans are still at least two votes short of a simple majority. There's a reconciliation backup strategy — attaching the bill to a border security package — but Thune has warned the Senate parliamentarian could strip it under the Byrd Rule.

Where This Lands

The administration says noncitizen voters are a real threat ahead of the midterms and is threatening to prosecute states that don't act. Courts and voting rights groups say the database is court-blocked, the 250,000 figure is wrong, and the threats exceed federal authority. In the Senate, the legislation that would make any of this legally binding has failed three floor votes, and Thune won't change the rules to get it through.

Sources