Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen is calling on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to implement much-needed updates to the agency’s Systematic Alien Verifications for Entitlements (SAVE) program.
The program is a service provided by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services branch of the DHS and is used by state and local governments to verify noncitizen status for individuals applying for social benefits.
Allen, along with 20 other Secretaries of State from across the country, stressed in a letter addressed to the head of DHS, Kristi Noem, the need to change the program.
Due to past guidance from the federal government and structural inadequacies, it is reportedly difficult to verify citizenship for voting purposes using the SAVE database.
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“As you embark on this important task, we respectfully ask you to focus on another issue that is critical to our future – elections,” wrote the officials.
“Tasking the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, a component of the DHS, with prioritizing needed improvements to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program would help us better detect noncitizens attempting to register and/or vote in our elections. As President Trump has explicitly conveyed, ensuring noncitizens do not vote in our elections is crucial to protecting the integrity of elections in our respective states; however, to vigorously and successfully assume this charge, improvements addressing current limitations within the program are vital.”
According to Allen, updates would be beneficial to the voting process in Alabama, providing a boost in integrity.
“Ensuring noncitizens are prevented from registering to vote or voting in our elections is a top priority for Alabama,” said Allen. “I have a zero-tolerance policy for noncitizens voting in Alabama’s elections. Fortifying states’ tools to verify the citizenship of those attempting to register and/or registered to vote is a critical objective for me and my colleagues.”
The Secretary traveled to Washington, D.C., last year and spoke with legislators about the effort from the Biden Administration to stifle his fight against noncitizens voting.
“In my testimony before the United States Senate, I recounted my Office’s efforts to obtain noncitizen data from the federal government, which were blocked by the Biden administration.”
Austen Shipley is the News Director for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten
