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DHS took a system called the SAVE database. That stands for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements. It was built to verify immigration benefits. That’s it. That’s all it was supposed to do.
They repurposed it to flag American voters as suspected non-citizens. Over 24,000 names. Referred to ICE.
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Here’s the part that should make your blood pressure go up. The database is full of errors. We’re not talking about a few edge cases. We are talking about naturalized citizens, people who went through the whole process, who became Americans, who have every legal right to vote, getting flagged. Being treated like they don’t belong here.
The Georgia Secretary of State got a subpoena from immigration enforcement requesting voter records, including citizenship documents, for 13 individuals. Thirteen. Individual. People. Who are American citizens.
I want to be clear about something. Andrea Flores worked immigration policy at DHS under Obama and Biden. She knows what that database was built for. She knows what it is not for. And she said flat out, this is wrong. And she said the small number of subpoenas they’ve issued tells you this is not the widespread phenomenon they wanted people to believe it was. That’s why they’re having such a hard time finding it. Because it doesn’t exist.
Mark Elias and the team at Democracy Docket are filing lawsuits. An appeals court has already blocked DHS from using SAVE to scrub voter rolls.
Sit with what this is. They built a system to help immigrants access benefits. They turned it into a tool to strip Americans of their right to vote. And they’re doing it sixty days before an election.
That’s not a mistake. That’s a plan.
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