❓WHAT HAPPENED: A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration can share Medicaid information about illegal migrants with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers starting next month.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and ICE.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The ruling was issued on Monday as part of a case involving 22 Democrat states that sued to block the policy in July.
💬KEY QUOTE: “The sharing of such information is clearly authorized by law and the agencies have adequately explained their decisions,” wrote Judge Chhabria.
🎯IMPACT: The ruling allows ICE officials to access personal data of Medicaid enrollees to track illegal migrants, with the decision limited to migrants known to be in the country illegally.
A federal judge ruled on December 29 that the Trump administration may begin sharing certain Medicaid enrollment information about migrants who are in the United States illegally with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), clearing the way for the policy to take effect next month.
The ruling follows a lawsuit filed in July by 22 Democrat-led states seeking to block the federal government from providing the data to immigration authorities. A temporary halt had been put in place while the case was reviewed. Notably, the states may still appeal the decision.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria approved a data-sharing agreement between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that allows ICE officials limited access to personal information held by Medicaid. In a seven-page order, Chhabria said ICE may obtain six categories of “basic” data: address, citizenship, immigration status, phone number, date of birth, and Medicaid identification number.
“The sharing of such information is clearly authorized by law and the agencies have adequately explained their decisions,” Chhabria wrote. However, he criticized any broader or undefined data sharing, adding that such policies “do not appear to be the product of a coherent decision-making process.”
The order applies only to migrants already known to be in the country illegally and does not permit access to medical records, treatment details, or other sensitive health information. The agreement had raised concerns because it potentially affects data connected to roughly 79 million Medicaid enrollees nationwide.
The dispute centers in part on seven Democrat-led states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Washington, that use state funds to provide limited Medicaid benefits to migrants who are not eligible for federally funded coverage. Those states argue that sharing enrollment data with ICE could discourage participation in public health programs and undermine privacy protections.
The decision comes amid heightened scrutiny of Medicaid oversight following multiple high-profile Somali-linked fraud investigations. In Minnesota, federal authorities have charged numerous defendants in schemes involving Medicaid and food stamp fraud, with some cases involving millions of dollars in losses.
The Treasury Department has also announced an investigation into whether federal and state officials failed to prevent large-scale Medicaid fraud tied to organized networks.
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