ICE Gains Access to Medicaid Enrollees’ Personal Data to Aid in Immigrant Identification Efforts.
The Trump administration has initiated plans to share personal information of nearly 79 million Medicaid enrollees with federal immigration authorities, aiming to intensify deportation efforts. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, characterized the new data-sharing agreement with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as an initiative to prevent undocumented immigrants from accessing Medicaid benefits. The new agreement, reported by the Associated Press, has not yet been made public.
Currently, undocumented immigrants, as well as certain lawfully present individuals, are already prohibited from enrolling in Medicaid, a federal health program that provides low-cost healthcare coverage. Nonetheless, federal law mandates that all states offer emergency Medicaid, which covers lifesaving services for anyone, regardless of their immigration status. Under this agreement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will gain access to Medicaid data to identify and locate individuals they believe to be living in the U.S. unlawfully.
This includes sensitive information such as names, addresses, birth dates, ethnic and racial details, and Social Security numbers of all Medicaid enrollees. According to the report, ICE can access this data from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, until September 9, but is prohibited from downloading the information. In response to this development, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the state’s intention to swiftly obtain a court order to stop the data sharing for immigration enforcement purposes.
He expressed concern that individuals might avoid seeking necessary medical care due to fears of being targeted by the administration. Bonta condemned the efforts to use personal health data as part of mass deportation strategies. Earlier this month, California joined 18 other states, including New York and Connecticut, in suing the Trump administration over this decision.
A hearing for the lawsuit is slated for August 7.