Wetherell concluded that DHS violated a court-approved settlement agreement reached with the states in November 2025 by removing the capabilities.
“Defendants are plainly in violation of the settlement agreement,” Wetherell wrote in his order.
The judge noted that the verification tools had been functioning from December 2025 until June before they were shut down.
The dispute arose after U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that modifications made to the SAVE system violated both the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act by improperly aggregating and using Americans’ personal information, including Social Security numbers.
Following that ruling, DHS disabled the enhanced verification features.
