What documents and databases ICE relies on to verify citizenship status?
Executive summary
ICE relies on a mix of DHS internal systems (like the Enforcement Integrated Database/EID and related CARIER records), USCIS’s SAVE system for citizenship verification, commercial and state motor-vehicle feeds accessed via networks such as Nlets, and biometric/photo searches (including Mobile Fortify that queries CBP photo collections) to establish or check immigration/citizenship indicators [1] [2] [3]. Reporting and advocacy filings say SAVE has been repurposed or expanded into a broader citizenship-verification tool that interfaces with state driver’s-license and voter data, producing rapid “initial verification” results in many cases [4] [5] [2].
1. What ICE’s core internal databases are and what they hold
ICE’s Enforcement Integrated Database (EID) is the central repository for investigation, arrest, booking, detention and removal records used across ICE and other DHS components; it feeds applications such as EAGLE and EDDIE that help identify people encountered by officers [1]. The EID links to system-of-record notices like CARIER and contains living, updating enforcement records that often overlap with USCIS A‑Files and ENFORCE records described historically as sources for investigative files [1] [6]. These are ICE’s operational workhorse systems for identifying enforcement history and immigration encounters [1].
2. SAVE: USCIS’s Systematic Alien Verification that functions for citizenship checks
The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system—operated by USCIS—has been central to recent citizenship‑verification efforts. Reporting and legal filings indicate DHS expanded SAVE from a benefits‑eligibility tool into a broader citizenship verification mechanism used by election officials and federal agencies, returning “initial verification” decisions (including within 48 hours in one settlement) when provided a name, birth date and government‑issued number [4] [5]. DHS officials have sought to simplify SAVE’s connections to 50 state data sources by linking it to shared networks such as Nlets, according to USCIS briefing notes reported to state officials [2].
3. State and commercial data feeds: driver’s licenses, motor vehicle records and Nlets
Journalistic reporting shows Homeland Security and ICE have conducted large volumes of searches for state driver’s-license and other motor‑vehicle data using the same data‑sharing network Homeland Security wants to bridge to SAVE—nearly 900,000 searches over the past year is the figure cited to Congress [2]. The push to ingest state driver’s‑license and voter rolls into federal verification systems is described as a major expansion of the data inputs that can yield “initial verification” outcomes from SAVE [2] [5].
4. Biometrics and photo databases accessed in the field
ICE has field tools that query biometric and photographic holdings across DHS. Mobile Fortify, a mobile facial‑recognition app used by ICE, searches CBP photo collections and other DHS biometric stores and can return a person’s name, birth date, alien number, possible citizenship status and “Possible Overstay Status,” according to DHS documents reported in the press [3]. That indicates ICE does not rely only on textual databases; biometric cross‑matches are now part of front‑line identity/citizenship triage [3].
5. Other cross‑checks and external programs cited in public reporting
Separate programs and mechanisms are frequently used as adjunct checks: E‑Verify (employment authorization cross‑checks) is mentioned in overviews of the 2025 enforcement landscape as a federal cross‑check used in worksite investigations, while reporting also references emerging “AI” scoring tools and surveillance feeds—though detailed, authoritative descriptions of those tools in official sources are limited in the provided reporting [7]. Available sources do not mention a comprehensive, publicly released list of every commercial database ICE queries beyond the motor‑vehicle and DHS biometric ties noted above [7].
6. Controversies, errors, and legal pushback to watch
Advocacy groups and some state officials say SAVE’s expansion has produced false flags and mass screening of citizen records; the Fair Elections Center and state lawsuits cited examples of citizens being flagged, voters removed or asked to prove citizenship after SAVE checks [4] [5]. Civil‑liberties groups and state election officials have warned that linking SAVE to broad state and commercial feeds could generate widespread erroneous “dossiers,” an objection quoted in coverage and advocacy filings [2] [4].
7. What reporting does not establish
The assembled sources document many of the databases and feeds ICE and DHS use—EID/CARIER/ENFORCE, SAVE, state motor‑vehicle data via Nlets and DHS biometric/photo systems like those Mobile Fortify queries—but they do not provide a single official inventory of every commercial or contractor‑run database ICE queries in 2025. Available sources do not mention a definitive public list of every external vendor product or every dataset ICE uses beyond the items cited above [1] [2] [3].
Bottom line: ICE’s verifications rely on a mix of internal enforcement databases (EID/CARIER), USCIS’s SAVE for citizenship checks, state motor‑vehicle and voter feeds accessed through networks such as Nlets, and field biometric/photo searches (Mobile Fortify). Those systems are drawing legal and civic‑liberty scrutiny because errors and expanded data‑sharing can flag U.S. citizens as noncitizens and have already triggered litigation and settlements [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].