Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, a Biden-appointed federal judge from Trinidad and Tobago, has ruled against a Trump administration election integrity policy that would implement citizenship verification through the Social Security database.
BREAKING: Biden-appointed judge Sparkle Sooknanan, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, just BLOCKED the Trump admin from using a social security database system to verify voter eligibility.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 22, 2026
We have foreign judges telling us we can’t secure our elections
What are we even doing? pic.twitter.com/qdyj98Dlvp
🚨 BREAKING: Foreign-born Biden judge Sparkle Sooknanan (yeah, that's her actual name) has just BARRED the Trump admin from checking citizenship data for voters, per AP
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 22, 2026
Democrats are TERRIFIED about illegals no longer being able to vote
The federal government was using a… pic.twitter.com/iYePOiENN8
🚨 Judge Sparkle Sooknanan has struck down the Trump administration's expanded SAVE voter-verification system, ruling that federal agencies unlawfully created a centralized database containing Social Security and citizenship data to facilitate mass voter verification. pic.twitter.com/t9aGZYvfos
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) June 22, 2026
The initiative pursued by the Department of Homeland Security would overhaul election security measures by creating the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system through a searchable citizenship database linked to the Social Security Administration.
Sooknanan considered the development in election integrity as a violation to “the right to privacy.”
"All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote," Sooknanan stated in the decision. "This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens."
“Judge Sparkle decrees that America belongs to any random alien on planet earth, just like our founders intended,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller responded on social media.
Judge Sparkle decrees that America belongs to any random alien on planet earth, just like our founders intended. https://t.co/X8guI1Xrt6
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) June 22, 2026
Sooknanan previously ruled against a Trump administration policy to remove Guatemalan illegal aliens in September 2025. She was appointed to her seat in February 2024 by President Joe Biden and ultimately confirmed in a 50-48 vote in December of the same year.