Judge T. Kent Wetherell II issued an injunction requiring the Department of Homeland Security to provide Modified SAVE to Florida, Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa.
Posted by The Lawfare Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 3 support3 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 88%
The Lawfare PodcastSep 14, 2026
Multiple sources, including Reuters, report that U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II, a Trump appointee in Pensacola, ordered DHS to restore Modified SAVE access for Florida, Ohio, Iowa and Indiana in a July 2026 ruling enforcing a settlement agreement. Sources describe this as an enforcement order rather than an 'injunction,' a label difference that does not change the substance.
What was said
… And, uh, there's a consent decree that says, yes, we can have Modified SAVE. There's no analysis of Modified SAVE or the Social Security statute. Social Security isn't even a party anyway. Uh So, after Judge Suprananen rules and in vacates the program, the judge in the Northern District of Florida, who is a Trump appointee named, um, Wetherell, uh, T. Kent Wetherell II, he issues an injunction to DHS saying, "No, you need to provide Modified SAVE to these four states under the consent decree." And that has now been appealed to the Eleventh Circuit. So, this is the context in which the Supreme Court now have you have battling they've got to step in injunctions. Yeah, so they will take it, and, uh, and, uh, yeah, and that's where we are. All right. …
The Lawfare Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Reuters reports that Wetherell ordered DHS to resume giving Florida, Ohio, Iowa and Indiana access to the SAVE citizenship database after another judge blocked its nationwide use.[1]
Supports. The Washington Examiner reports Wetherell ordered DHS to restore access for Florida, Ohio, Iowa and Indiana, finding DHS violated a settlement agreement when it disabled key SAVE features to comply with Sooknanan's ruling.[3]
Supports. Wonderwall reports Wetherell granted an emergency motion by the four states to enforce the settlement agreement, ordering DHS to immediately restore access to the database.[4]
Context. The order conflicted with Judge Sooknanan's June 22 nationwide block on the modified SAVE system, which the D.C. judge later refused to pause; the order was later appealed and the Supreme Court lifted restrictions in September.[2][5]
Context. The claim's wording ('injunction') differs from the sources' 'order' or 'enforcement' framing, and the post also describes the order as issued under the consent decree, which the sources support as a settlement-agreement enforcement.[1][4][6]
Sources
6 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 4 not rated
- 1US judge orders four states be given access to citizenship ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 2Supreme Court lets Trump administration use revamped federal voter eligibility database for nowapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 3Federal judges clash over DHS SAVE database for voter ...washingtonexaminer.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 4Judge hands big win to Republican-led states, orders DHS to restore access to federal immigration-status databasewonderwall.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 5DHS citizenship database must remain suspended, federal judge says in scathing opiniondemocracydocket.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 6Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, September 11lawfaremedia.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- Florida brought a case in the Northern District of Florida against the Department of Homeland Security in late October 2026 regarding the SAVE system.Mixed
- Judge Sukhnanan denied a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit against the SAVE system.True
- A California judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out most operations in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin.True
- A judge blocked the Social Security Administration from using the SAVE database to verify eligibility for payments on June 22.True
- The Supreme Court granted a stay of a district court ruling that had blocked the Trump administration's implementation of the modified SAVE database for voter verification.True