States can access immigration info, feds get driver’s licenses in settlement resolving Iowa’s attempt to verify voters’ citizenship

DES MOINES — States will have access to federal immigration information for the purposes of determining voters’ citizenship, and the federal government will have access to those states’ driver’s license information under a settlement reached in a lawsuit brought by Iowa in its attempt to weed out illegal voting by Americans without U.S. citizenship.

The settlement agreement and a motion to dismiss the case were filed in federal court Friday.

Iowa’s original lawsuit was brought in December 2024 by the State of Iowa against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under then-President Joe Biden.

The lawsuit asked the federal courts to require Homeland Security to allow Iowa to access federal information on individuals’ citizenship from the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE system. Iowa sought the access to cross-check federal information with state records to determine whether Iowans without full U.S. citizenship were voting or registering to vote in Iowa elections.

Iowa’s lawsuit was combined with similar suits from Florida, Ohio and Indiana, and Homeland Security in 2025 came under President Donald Trump’s administration. The two sides have spent recent months negotiating a settlement.

Under the settlement agreement, which is effective for 20 years, Homeland Security in the next two months must offer states access to the SAVE list for free, allow states to file bulk citizenship verification requests, incorporate Social Security numbers as a searchable term in SAVE, and ensure citizenship information can be confirmed to states within 48 hours.

The settlement also requires states seeking federal citizenship information to make driver’s license information available to the federal government.

The agreement also allows the plaintiff states, including Iowa, to provide Homeland Security with 1,000 randomly selected driver’s license records for which citizenship verification is requested.

Bird, Pate comment on settlement

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate each issued statements on Monday celebrating the settlement agreement, both calling it a victory for election integrity.

“Only American citizens can vote in Iowa elections,” Bird said in her statement. “This agreement with the Trump administration will help Iowa safeguard the integrity of our elections for years to come by preventing an illegal vote to cancel out the vote of Iowa citizens.”

Pate said his office will continue to do even more to examine Iowa’s voter registration lists.

“American elections are for American citizens. This agreement provides us with another layer of election integrity and protection — the ability to audit our lists and ensure only eligible voters are registered to vote and voting in Iowa elections,” Pate said in a statement.

“Protecting the integrity of Iowa elections and ensuring only eligible Iowa voters participate in Iowa elections continue to be priorities of our office, as does encouraging voter participation from every eligible Iowa voter,” Pate added. “We continue to take additional steps to audit Iowa's voter lists and verify that the information is correct and up to date. The SAVE program provides us with critical information, but we must also continue to utilize information from other state and federal partners to maintain clean and accurate lists.”

The lead-up to the lawsuit in Iowa

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In an attempt to prevent individuals from voting illegally in Iowa, Pate’s office shortly before the 2024 election created a list of 2,176 individuals whose U.S. citizenship the state could not confirm. The list was composed of Iowans who live in the U.S. legally but at some point indicated to the state transportation department that they were not full U.S. citizens.

Pate tried to get the citizenship information from Homeland Security. According to Pate’s office, the agency’s Des Moines office prepared the information sought, but the lead office in Washington, D.C., would not permit the information to be shared with Iowa state officials.

According to Iowa’s lawsuit, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — which is under Homeland Security — told the state in an email it could not release the information to the state because the list of names would “require extensive research and review by multiple oversight offices.”

Lacking the clarifying information, Pate instructed Iowa elections officials to require any individual on the list to vote via a provisional ballot, which gave those voters a week to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. The ACLU of Iowa and the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa sued Pate’s office over the policy less than a week before the election, but a federal judge ruled that Pate’s directive could continue.

The Secretary of State’s Office has not said how many ballots were challenged; more than 200 were challenged across some of the state’s most populous counties, according to those counties’ local elections officials.

Once under the Trump administration, Homeland Security granted Iowa access to the SAVE list, and Pate’s office determined 277 Iowans who were not U.S. citizens at the time attempted to vote or registered to vote in recent election cycles. Pate said 35 votes were cast in the 2024 election by individuals who were not full U.S. citizens.

Among those 35, six have been charged by the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, which has exclusive jurisdiction over state elections crimes. Of those, one individual has been found guilty and is awaiting sentencing, and another was found not guilty. The remaining four cases are ongoing.

Nearly 1.7 million votes were cast in the 2024 general election in Iowa, according to state data.

Registering to vote or voting in Iowa while not having full U.S. citizenship are Class D felonies, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $750 to $7,500.

Download: save list settlement 11-28.pdf

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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