Limit 05 of nine · Information firewall
Protect personal records
67M+ voter records bulk-scanned; 292,114 searches of state driver records in a year.
The problem
Starting in 2025, the federal government moved to fuse state-held records — voter rolls, DMV files, tax data — into a single surveillance system, with deportation as the current use case and no legal wall stopping the next one: 31 lawsuits across 30 states over voter rolls, a rebuilt SAVE system scanning 67 million-plus registrations, an IRS deal exposing roughly 47,000 taxpayers, and 292,114 searches of DMV records. Courts struck the worst of it — but those are reversible orders; only a state firewall law is durable.
What the law does
Bars state agencies and local data-holders from handing residents’ voter, DMV, school, health, and licensing data to federal civil enforcement without a judge’s warrant.
Where it stands
- Alaska: None
- Alabama: None
- Arkansas: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Arizona: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- California: Full
- Colorado: Full
- Connecticut: Full
- District of Columbia: Partial
- Delaware: None
- Florida: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Georgia: None
- Hawaii: Partial
- Iowa: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Idaho: None
- Illinois: Full
- Indiana: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Kansas: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Kentucky: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Louisiana: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Massachusetts: Partial
- Maryland: Full
- Maine: Partial
- Michigan: None
- Minnesota: Partial
- Missouri: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Mississippi: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Montana: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- North Carolina: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- North Dakota: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Nebraska: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- New Hampshire: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- New Jersey: Full
- New Mexico: Partial
- Nevada: Partial
- New York: Partial
- Ohio: None
- Oklahoma: None
- Oregon: Full
- Pennsylvania: None
- Rhode Island: None
- South Carolina: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- South Dakota: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Tennessee: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Texas: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Utah: None
- Virginia: None
- Vermont: Partial
- Washington: Partial
- Wisconsin: None
- West Virginia: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Wyoming: None (state law mandates cooperation)
- Puerto Rico: None
Methodology v3.4 · scored Jun 10 2026
The model language
Read the full model bill →“No state agency shall disclose, provide access to, or transfer any personal information of any person contained in state databases or records to federal civil immigration enforcement, except where compelled by a judicial warrant signed by a federal or state judge or magistrate, compelled by a subpoena issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, or required by federal law that has been judicially upheld against legal challenge.”
What we propose
Firewall three or more of five data domains (voter, DMV, school, health, licensing) with hard-denial language, a judicial-warrant exception, public logging of refused requests, and a SAVE opt-out. Model: Colorado SB 24-182; California Veh. Code 1801.1; Illinois Way Forward Act.
Who’s already done it
16 states + D.C. have firewalls; 7 at full strength — CA, CO, CT, IL, MD, NJ, OR. California and Illinois firewall all five domains.
On the record
- League of Women Voters v. DHS — SAVE overhaul struck, Jun 22 2026
- DOJ voter-roll suits — 31 across 30 states; 6th Cir. affirmed against, Jun 24 2026
- ICE searches of state driver records — 292,114 via Nlets in a year (U.S. Senate letter to governors, Nov 2025)
- IRS-ICE data deal — struck twice (D.D.C.; D. Mass.)
Status: holding in court — but via reversible litigation, not durable statute. Oklahoma already settled; a state law is the answer.
One of nine.
Not the whole fight.
See where your state stands on all nine limits, or read the model bill section that closes this one.
Check your state → ← Back to the Nine