We Need Answers About Trump’s Voter Data Grab

For at least a year, the Trump administration has been gathering U.S. voters’ personal data — including driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers — and sharing it with immigration enforcement. They have not responded to our FOIA requests asking about how this data is collected, stored, shared, or used, so we are taking them to court. 

Experts and voting-rights advocates have raised serious concerns about the administration’s effort to compile sensitive voter information, especially since this is not the Trump administration’s first attempt to use federal power to collect data that could influence upcoming elections. We’ve been investigating the administration’s national citizenship data system, called SAVE, which contains personal information about Americans from multiple government sources. Trump has been pushing states to use SAVE to remove people from their voter rolls, but it is prone to error and has already removed lawfully registered voters, so its use could risk the disenfranchisement of eligible voters.

In October, we teamed up with the Campaign Legal Center to sue the administration for records about SAVE and its efforts to purge voter rolls. 

This lawsuit continues that work, to build transparency and accountability around our elections.

Video conflicts with ICE’s account of Ruben Ray Martinez’s shooting

ICE didn’t publicly acknowledge its fatal shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez until nearly a year later, after we sued for information about the agency’s use of force. Now, body camera footage appears to contradict ICE’s account of the shooting.

These conflicting reports raise serious concerns about the pattern of secrecy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In addition to our finding that ICE failed to publicly disclose Martinez’s death, we recently obtained documents that show ICE officials knew use of force incidents were rising well before an agent shot and killed Renée Good in Minneapolis earlier this year. 

This month, we also sued the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for records related to its use of force. CBP has faced increased scrutiny since January, when its agents shot and killed 37-year-old American Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

As Kristi Noem completes her term as DHS Secretary and Sen. Markwayne Mullin seeks to take over the role, the agency must answer for its accountability failures, which our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said “have allowed incidents like this to remain hidden from the public.”

“Without systemic reforms and real transparency from DHS and the White House, leadership changes will not prevent future abuses or restore public trust,” she added.

On the Records

Why is Trump firing immigration judges?

Immigration courts have massive case backlogs — currently in the millions — but the Trump administration keeps firing immigration judges and filling their seats with military lawyers. Many of the fired judges had experience as attorneys for people seeking asylum or relief from deportation, but we do not know if their replacements are equipped for the job. 

We FOIAed to find out more. 

We asked DHS, ICE, and DOJ’s Office for Immigration Review for information about the newly-appointed judges, including details about their prior experience in immigration law, any training they were provided, and legal analyses regarding their appointments to immigration courts.

American Oversight in the news

• Videos of ICE shooting in Texas capture a confused and fatal encounter (New York Times)
• Footage shows the run-up to immigration officer’s fatal shooting of Texas man (Texas Tribune)
• Gunshots in traffic: Why did DHS fatally shoot unarmed motorist in Texas (USA Today)

Other stories we’re following

• Trump files missing in Epstein release highlight Justice Dept.’s missteps (New York Times)
• Whistleblower claims ex-DOGE member says he took Social Security data to new job (Washington Post)
• DHS ousts CBP privacy officers who questioned ‘illegal’ orders (Wired)
• Democrats sue to find out if Trump will send armed officers to election sites (New York Times)