PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jul 23, 2009
Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act of 2009 or SAVE Act of 2009 - Sets forth border security and enforcement provisions, including provisions respecting: (1) increases in Border Patrol and investigative personnel; (2) recruitment of former military personnel; (3) use of Department of Defense (DOD) equipment; (4) infrastructure improvements; (5) aerial and other surveillance; (5) a national strategy to secure the borders; (6) accountable financing under the Secure Border Initiative; (7) emergency deployment of Border Patrol agents; and (8) expansion of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism along the northern and southern borders.
Requires that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel check against terrorist watchlists alien smugglers and smuggled individuals who are interdicted at U.S. borders.
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act and specified maritime law sections to revise alien smuggling provisions.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Sets forth provisions respecting border security on certain federal lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior.
Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to make the basic employment eligibility confirmation pilot program permanent.
Sets forth conditions for the mandatory use of the E-verify system.
Requires: (1) employer/employee notification of social security number mismatches and multiple uses, and related information sharing with DHS; and (2) establishment of electronic birth and death registration systems.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) penalize specified employers for failure to correct information returns; and (2) prohibit employers from deducting from gross income wages paid to unauthorized aliens, with an exception for an employer participating in the basic employment eligibility confirmation program.
Increases criminal alien program (CAP) personnel.
Authorizes border relief grants for local law enforcement agencies within 25 miles of the southern U.S. border.
Establishes within DHS a rewards program to assist in the elimination of commercial operations to produce or sell fraudulent immigration-related documents and to assist in the investigation, prosecution, or disruption of commercial alien smuggling operations.
Provides for: (1) increased alien detention facilities; (2) additional immigration court judgeships; and (3) a media campaign to inform the public of changes made by this Act including a multilingual media campaign explaining noncompliance penalties.
People & committees
Sen. Pryor, Mark L. [D-AR] · D–AR
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1505 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1505 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1505 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1505 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.