![\"A](\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2241626069.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A California Highway Patrol officer talks to a driver during a traffic stop in October. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants access to state driver\u2019s license data as it builds a powerful citizenship verification program (Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images).<\/p>\n
The Trump administration wants access to state driver\u2019s license data on millions of U.S. residents as it builds a powerful citizenship verification program amid its clampdown on voter fraud and illegal immigration.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security seeks access to an obscure computer network used by law enforcement agencies, according to a federal notice, potentially allowing officials to bypass negotiating with states for the records.<\/p>\n
The information would then be plugged into a Homeland Security program known as SAVE that Trump officials have deployed to search for rare instances of alleged noncitizen voters and to verify citizenship. The plan comes as the Trump administration demands states share copies of their voter files that include sensitive personal data that also is being plugged into SAVE; it is suing some states that refuse.<\/p>\n
Trump officials tout the SAVE program as a boost for election integrity. But critics of the program warn the federal government is constructing a massive, centralized information source on Americans. They fear President Donald Trump or a future president could use the tool to surveil residents or target political enemies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this SAVE database expansion will do is serve as a central pillar to build dossiers on all of us,\u201d said Cody Venzke, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, conducted nearly 900,000 searches for state driver\u2019s license and other motor vehicle data over the past year using the same data-sharing network that Homeland Security wants to link to SAVE, according to information provided to Congress. The network is called Nlets \u2014 formerly the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, now known as the International Justice and Public Safety Network.<\/p>\n
Dozens of congressional Democrats in mid-November warned Democratic governors that Nlets makes driver\u2019s license data available to ICE, including from states that restrict cooperation with the agency. While ICE, a Homeland Security agency, has long had access to Nlets, some Democrats are voicing renewed alarm amid Trump\u2019s sweeping deportation campaign.<\/p>\n
At least five states \u2014 Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York and Washington \u2014 have blocked Nlets\u2019 ability to share their driver\u2019s license records with ICE, according to the Nov. 12 letter from 40 Democratic lawmakers. Oregon also is taking steps to block access.<\/p>\n
In Colorado, state Sen. Julie Gonzales said she is willing to advance bills to block the Nlets data sharing. Gonzales, a Democrat who chairs the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee, has previously sponsored legislation to limit what personal information is shared with the federal government for immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is like playing Whac-A-Mole, but the Constitution applies to ICE, too,\u201d Gonzales said.<\/p>\n
The recent developments underscore the ongoing struggle between Democratic states and the Trump administration over how much access Homeland Security should have to their residents\u2019 personal data. For their part, some Republican state officials have voiced support for the administration\u2019s moves and want to aid the search for noncitizen voters and individuals in the country illegally.<\/p>\n
Data and privacy experts told Stateline the current moment could lead to more centralization of personal data by the federal government and an eroding expectation of privacy when it comes to driver\u2019s license information. The federal government is for the first time essentially building a U.S. citizenship database, they said.<\/p>\n
Homeland Security is proposing to take Nlets outside its intended use, said John Davisson, senior counsel and director of litigation at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington, D.C.-based research and advocacy group that argues privacy is a fundamental right.<\/p>\n
Nlets is a nonprofit organization that facilitates data sharing among law enforcement agencies across state lines. At a basic level, Nlets is the system that allows police officers to quickly look up the driver\u2019s license information of out-of-state motorists they pull over.<\/p>\n
States decide what information to make available through Nlets, and which agencies can access it. Each state has an Nlets member, typically that state\u2019s highway patrol or equivalent agency. Several federal law enforcement agencies also are members.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt appears that DHS is eyeing it for something quite different, for mass extraction of driver\u2019s license information that would be far beyond the sort of targeted enforcement purposes of a system like Nlets,\u201d Davisson said.<\/p>\n
Homeland Security\u2019s SAVE program \u2014 Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements \u2014 was originally intended to help state and local officials verify the immigration status of individual noncitizens seeking government benefits. But it can now scan state voter rolls for alleged noncitizen voters.<\/p>\n
In the past, SAVE could search only one name at a time. Now it can conduct bulk searches, allowing officials to potentially scan through information on millions of registered voters. Federal officials in May connected the program to Social Security data; linking driver\u2019s license data through Nlets would provide an additional mountain of data on U.S. residents.<\/p>\n
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan group that advocates for voting rights, filed a federal lawsuit in September against Homeland Security over the transformation of SAVE. In its complaint, the organization accused the department of ignoring federal law to create comprehensive databases of American citizens\u2019 data.<\/p>\n
U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan, a Biden appointee, last week declined to temporarily block SAVE\u2019s overhaul while the lawsuit proceeds. But Sooknanan wrote in an opinion that based on the current record, \u201cthe Court is troubled by the recent changes to SAVE and doubts the lawfulness of the Government\u2019s actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Homeland Security publicly confirmed it wants to connect Nlets to SAVE in an Oct. 31 Federal Register notice. The notice said driver\u2019s licenses are the most widely used form of identification, and by working with states and national agencies, including Nlets, \u201cSAVE will use driver\u2019s license and state identification card numbers to check and confirm identity information.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agency also privately floated its interest in Nlets months earlier.<\/p>\n
According to minutes of a May virtual meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State Elections Committee, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) official Brian Broderick told the group that his agency \u2014 the Homeland Security agency that administers SAVE \u2014 was seeking \u201cto avoid having to connect to 50 state databases\u201d and wanted a \u201csimpler solution,\u201d such as Nlets.<\/p>\n
The minutes were contained in records from the Texas Secretary of State\u2019s Office obtained by American Oversight, a nonpartisan transparency group that frequently files records requests. Mother Jones magazine first reported on the records.<\/p>\n
Nlets and the Texas Secretary of State\u2019s Office didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
On Friday, National Association of Secretaries of State spokesperson Brittany Hamilton wrote in an email to Stateline that at that time, \u201cwe have not received specific updates from USCIS on this aspect of driver\u2019s license data potential usage.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser encouraged all federal, state and local agencies to use SAVE.<\/p>\n
\u201cUSCIS remains dedicated to eliminating barriers to securing the nation\u2019s electoral process. By allowing states to efficiently verify voter eligibility, we are reinforcing the principle that America\u2019s elections are reserved exclusively for American citizens,\u201d Tragesser wrote.<\/p>\n
Some Democrats are separately pushing to limit ICE\u2019s access to driver\u2019s license data through Nlets. The Nov. 12 congressional letter warned that while some states have restrictions on data sharing with immigration authorities, the limits are often ineffective because of major flaws.<\/p>\n
State limits sometimes apply only to state motor vehicle agencies, which don\u2019t connect to Nlets \u2014 and often don\u2019t apply to state police agencies that do connect, the letter said. And even though state restrictions target data-sharing for immigration enforcement, Nlets doesn\u2019t indicate the purpose of a request.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the technical complexity of Nlets\u2019 system, few state government officials understand how their state is sharing their residents\u2019 data with federal and out-of-state agencies,\u201d wrote U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York and 38 other Democrats.<\/p>\n
Homeland Security didn\u2019t address Stateline\u2019s questions about ICE\u2019s access to state driver\u2019s license data through Nlets.<\/p>\n
I think that for many years, folks around the country that are concerned about privacy, that are concerned about immigrants, have been trying to sound the alarm about this issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2013 Matthew Lopas of the National Immigration Law Center<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Advocates for immigrants have long raised concerns about ICE access to state driver\u2019s license data through Nlets. Nineteen states allow residents to obtain driver\u2019s licenses regardless of immigration status, according to the National Immigration Law Center, an immigrant advocacy group. Those driver\u2019s license records represent a wealth of information on noncitizens.<\/p>\n
While ICE can\u2019t use Nlets to obtain records of all noncitizens issued licenses, the agency can use the search tool to obtain a variety of information on individuals, such as date of birth, sex, address and Social Security number, according to the law center. Sometimes a photo is also available \u2014 a particular concern for immigrants and their advocates amid reports that ICE has deployed facial recognition tools in the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that for many years, folks around the country that are concerned about privacy, that are concerned about immigrants, have been trying to sound the alarm about this issue,\u201d said Matthew Lopas, director of state advocacy and technical assistance at the National Immigration Law Center.<\/p>\n
Stateline contacted all 50 state governors to ask about Nlets. Forty-one offices didn\u2019t respond and most others provided high-level statements or referred questions to other agencies.<\/p>\n
But Maryland indicated it was taking \u201cproactive measures\u201d to ensure that federal agencies\u2019 access to its data through Nlets complies with state and federal law. A 2021 state law limits the sharing of driver\u2019s license data with federal immigration authorities.<\/p>\n
Maryland \u201cis working with Nlets to ensure that Marylanders\u2019 data is not misused for civil immigration enforcement absent a valid judicial warrant, and we intend to share more information on that effort as we are able,\u201d Rhyan Lake, a spokesperson for Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, said in a statement to Stateline.<\/p>\n
The South Dakota Department of Public Safety, which is overseen by Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden, cautioned against limiting data-sharing among law enforcement. Records obtained through Nlets include data on wanted individuals and other information that can help identify potential threats to officers and agents, the department said in a statement provided by Director of Communications Brad Reiners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reject the concerns outlined in the [Democratic lawmakers\u2019] letter and remain deeply concerned about the potentially dangerous consequences of limiting access to this information,\u201d the statement says.<\/p>\n
In Oregon, state officials plan to cut off ICE\u2019s Nlets access to its driver\u2019s license data, but no date has been set, Oregon State Police Capt. Kyle Kennedy, an agency spokesperson, wrote in an email.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working with other states to assist in considering a path forward,\u201d Kennedy wrote.<\/p>\n
Stateline reporter <\/em>Jonathan Shorman can be reached at <\/em>jshorman@stateline.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n