The Iowa Senate passed several bills Wednesday aimed at strengthening immigration status checks related to voting, getting a driver’s license and hiring school and government employees.
The Iowa secretary of state would be required to check the federal SAVE system to verify that registered voters are U.S. citizens. Secretary of State Paul Pate started using SAVE to check voter citizenship last year.
Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Pella, said the bill (SF 2203) is needed because Pate determined 35 noncitizens voted in Iowa’s 2024 election, which had a total voter turnout of 1.67 million.
“As of 2025, SAVE has been linked with the Social Security Administration data and the state department U.S. passport database, offering additional resources and lookup tools for immigration verification,” he said. “It is a tool to use to help us clean up voter registration data.”
Most Democrats voted against the bill, which passed 34-13. They said SAVE is a flawed system, and the bill would deny some eligible citizens their right to vote.
Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said some Iowa voters were wrongly flagged as possible noncitizens during the 2024 election, when Pate used driver’s license data to challenge the citizenship of voters. She said she found a resident of her district whose ballot was thrown out as a result, even though she was a U.S. citizen.
“This bill is not a fix. This bill does not enhance election integrity,” Trone Garriott said. “This bill is going to send us down the road of more bad data that will make things worse. It’s just more brokenness for our already broken immigration system.”
Rozenboom said that, according to the federal government, SAVE has a 99.16% accuracy rate.
Under the bill, if a registered voter is flagged as a noncitizen, their county auditor would have to notify them and provide information about how to cancel the registration or prove their citizenship.
DOT would have to check SAVE to issue driver’s licenses
A separate bill (SF 2187) would require Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) officials to check the federal SAVE system to verify the immigration status of people who apply for a driver’s license or state ID, and for those who are seeking to renew those forms of identification.
Sen. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, said the DOT has used other methods in the past to check immigration status, and requiring the use of SAVE could result in eligible immigrants being denied a driver’s license.
“To place a particular program in code that has been proven to be flawed in some instances, I think, is careless,” she said.
Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, said the DOT has an appeal process if anyone believes they were wrongly denied a license.
“If you’re looking at any process within the state of Iowa, not any one of the processes is completely flawless,” he said.
The DOT would be prohibited from issuing or renewing a driver’s license if the applicant doesn’t prove they are a U.S. citizen and the department is unable to verify they are lawfully present in the country.
The bill passed 42-5.
Employment verification bills pass unanimously
Two bills dealing with employment verification passed the Senate unanimously.
State agencies, the Iowa Legislature, cities, counties and school districts would have to use the federal E-Verify system to confirm that new employees are authorized to work in the U.S.
The bill (SF 2412) establishes an appeal process for new employees to challenge the E-Verify results. After the completion of the appeal, if the person does not have legal status to be present in the U.S., the hiring agency would have to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It would also require the state to use SAVE to check the immigration status of Iowans applying for professional licenses.
This is similar to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to codify her executive order requiring the use of E-Verify and SAVE to check the immigration status state employees and licensure applicants.
A separate bill (SF 2218) that passed the Senate unanimously would require all schools and the state’s education licensing board to verify that school staff are authorized to work in the U.S.
