July 17, 2025 — In a significant escalation of immigration enforcement efforts, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have been granted access to the personal data of approximately 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including sensitive information such as names, home addresses, birth dates, ethnicities, and Social Security numbers.
This development stems from a newly signed agreement between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The agreement, signed on Monday, July 14, 2025, has not been publicly announced, raising concerns about transparency, legality, and the potential misuse of personal health data.
The agreement allows ICE officials to access Medicaid enrollee data to locate individuals who may be living in the United States without legal status, described in the document as enabling ICE to find “the location of aliens.”
Access to the data is restricted to weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is set to expire on September 9, 2025.
Importantly, ICE is not permitted to download the data, limiting their ability to retain it permanently.
The stated purpose, according to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, is to ensure that Medicaid benefits are not being accessed by “illegal aliens” but are reserved for “law-abiding Americans.”
Medicaid, a state and federally funded program, provides healthcare coverage to low-income individuals, including millions of children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, and seniors.
As of January 2025, approximately 78.4 million Americans were enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
While undocumented immigrants and some lawfully present immigrants are ineligible for standard Medicaid, federal law mandates that all states provide emergency Medicaid for life-saving services in emergency rooms, regardless of immigration status.
Legal and Privacy Concerns
The data-sharing agreement has sparked significant backlash from lawmakers, former CMS officials, and civil rights advocates, who argue it violates federal privacy laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Privacy Act of 1974.
Historically, Medicaid data has been shared only for purposes related to program administration, such as investigating waste, fraud, or abuse.
Critics, including former CMS adviser Hannah Katch, have called the move a betrayal of trust, warning that it could deter vulnerable populations from seeking essential medical care due to fear of deportation.
Katch stated, “It’s unthinkable that CMS would violate the trust of Medicaid enrollees in this way.”
Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) condemned the agreement, declaring, “This massive transfer of the personal data of millions of Medicaid recipients should alarm every American.
This massive violation of our privacy laws must be halted immediately.
It will harm families across the nation and only cause more citizens to forego lifesaving access to health care.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom echoed these concerns, calling the data transfer “potentially unlawful” and highlighting the risk of creating a culture of fear.
In response to earlier data-sharing efforts in June 2025, 20 states, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration’s decision to share Medicaid data with DHS violates federal privacy protections and could exacerbate public health outcomes by discouraging people from seeking emergency care.
The states involved include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
Bookmark: MTG Is Now Attacking Trump’s Broken Promises To The People
Context of the Trump Administration’s Immigration Policies
This data-sharing initiative is part of a broader immigration enforcement strategy under the Trump administration, which has prioritized deportations, aiming to arrest 3,000 individuals daily.
The administration’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” signed into law on July 4, 2025, includes $108 billion for immigration enforcement, alongside significant cuts to Medicaid and CHIP funding, projected to affect 11 million Americans over the next decade.
The bill also allocates funds for border wall construction and new detention centers.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Trump administration initiative, has been linked to efforts to aggregate federal benefit data, including Social Security and tax information, to assist ICE in immigration enforcement.
In May 2025, CMS requested data from states like California, Illinois, and Washington, which use state funds to provide Medicaid to certain non-citizens, prompting accusations that the administration is targeting states with progressive immigration policies.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon declined to comment on the latest agreement but previously defended the data-sharing as a legal measure to ensure Medicaid benefits are reserved for eligible individuals.
Nixon stated, “HHS acted entirely within its legal authority – and in full compliance with all applicable laws – to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them.”
However, it remains unclear whether DHS has accessed the data, as no confirmation has been provided.
Emails obtained by the AP reveal internal dissent within CMS, with some officials and lawyers urging consultation with the Department of Justice (DOJ) before proceeding.
Despite these concerns, HHS legal staff reported that the DOJ was “comfortable” with the agreement.
Critics warn that the data-sharing agreement could have far-reaching consequences, particularly for mixed-status families where some members are U.S. citizens or lawful residents.
The fear of immigration enforcement may lead to reduced healthcare access, worsening public health outcomes.
The agreement also follows a pattern of data aggregation by the Trump administration, including a May 2025 federal judge’s decision not to block the IRS from sharing immigrants’ tax data with ICE.
As legal challenges mount and public outcry grows, the controversy over ICE’s access to Medicaid data underscores the tension between immigration enforcement and privacy rights.
The outcome of the ongoing lawsuits and public response may shape the future of how sensitive health data is handled in the U.S.
Also Read: Pro Trump Farmers Now Admit They Can’t Find American Workers
Visit the Homepage for our extensive library of news, or read news for you below.
About The Author
