Iowa settles lawsuit against federal agency on voter citizenship status [View all]

Source: Iowa Capital Dispatch/IPR

Published December 2, 2025 at 10:30 AM CST


Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced Monday that Iowa, alongside three other states, has reached a settlement agreement allowing state officials to access a federal immigration database to verify citizenship status of voters for the next 20 years. The settlement includes an agreement by the states to provide state driver’s license data to the federal government, Stateline reported Monday.

Bird, as well as Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, were plaintiffs in the case alongside officials from Florida, Ohio and Indiana. The lawsuit challenged the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which contains the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, for allegedly withholding information unlawfully about people registered to vote in states including Iowa that were flagged by state officials for potentially not having U.S. citizenship.

Bird celebrated the agreement as a way to ensure Iowa elections’ integrity. “Only American citizens can vote in Iowa elections,” Bird said in a statement. “This agreement with the Trump administration will help Iowa safeguard the integrity of our elections for years to come by preventing an illegal vote to cancel out the vote of Iowa citizens.”

Bird and Pate filed their lawsuit on this issue in December 2024, shortly after the 2024 general election.

Read more: https://www.iowapublicradio.org/political-news/2025-12-02/iowa-settles-lawsuit-federal-agency-voter-citizenship-status-election