By Kimberly Kindy and Amanda Seitz | Related Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration this week supplied deportation officers with private information, together with the immigration standing, on tens of millions of Medicaid enrollees, a transfer that would make it simpler to find folks as a part of his sweeping immigration crackdown.
The dataset contains the knowledge of individuals dwelling in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington, D.C., all of which permit non-U. S. residents to enroll in Medicaid applications that pay for his or her bills utilizing solely state taxpayer {dollars}. CMS transferred the knowledge simply because the Trump administration was ramping up its enforcement efforts in Southern California.
Apart from serving to authorities find migrants, consultants mentioned, the federal government might additionally use the knowledge to scuttle the hopes of migrants looking for inexperienced playing cards, everlasting residency or citizenship if that they had ever obtained Medicaid advantages funded by the federal authorities.
“We deeply value the privacy of all Californians,” the assertion mentioned. “This potential data transfer brought to our attention by the AP is extremely concerning, and if true, potentially unlawful, particularly given numerous headlines highlighting potential improper federal use of personal information and federal actions to target the personal information of Americans.”
Some California lawmakers on Friday additionally expressed alarm. U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman, a Democrat, wrote on X that “we should never use a person’s need to go to the doctor against them. This will only lead to more chaos and pain in our communities.”
U.S. Well being and Human Providers spokesperson Andrew Nixon mentioned the information sharing was authorized. He declined to reply questions on why the information was shared with DHS and the way it might be used.
“With respect to the recent data sharing between CMS and DHS, 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,” Nixon mentioned.
An official with DHS, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, mentioned in an announcement that Trump “promised to protect Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries. To keep that promise after Joe Biden flooded our country with tens of millions of illegal aliens CMS and DHS are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans.”
The initiative seems to be a part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to supply DHS with extra information on migrants. In Could, for instance, a federal decide refused to dam the Inner Income Service from sharing immigrants’ tax information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to assist brokers find and detain folks dwelling with out authorized standing within the U.S.
A focused overview of tens of millions of immigrant Medicaid enrollees
CMS introduced late final month that it was reviewing some states’ Medicaid enrollees to make sure federal funds haven’t been used to pay for protection for folks with “unsatisfactory immigration status.” In a letter despatched to state Medicaid officers, CMS mentioned that the trouble was a part of Trump’s Feb. 19 govt order titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders.”
As a part of the overview, California, Washington and Illinois shared particulars about non-U. S. residents who’ve enrolled of their state’s Medicaid program, in keeping with a June 6 memo signed by Medicaid Deputy Director Sara Vitolo that was obtained by the AP. The memo was written by a number of CMS officers underneath Vitolo’s supervision, in keeping with sources acquainted with the method.
The info contains addresses, names, social safety numbers and claims information for enrollees in these states, in keeping with the memo and two folks acquainted with what the states despatched to CMS and what was shared with DHS. Each people spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to share particulars in regards to the information trade.
“Multiple federal statutory and regulatory authorities do not permit CMS to share this information with entities outside of CMS,” Vitolo wrote, additional explaining that the sharing of such private information is just allowed for immediately administering the Medicaid program.
Sharing details about Medicaid candidates or enrollees with DHS officers would violate a “long-standing policy,” wrote Vitolo, a profession worker, to Trump appointee Kim Brandt, deputy administrator and chief working officer of CMS.
Vitolo and Brandt couldn’t be reached for remark.
The authorized arguments outlined within the memo weren’t persuasive to Trump appointees at HHS, which oversees the Medicaid company.
Former authorities officers mentioned the transfer was uncommon as a result of CMS, which has entry to non-public well being information for practically half the nation, doesn’t usually share such delicate data with different departments.
“DHS has no role in anything related to Medicaid,” mentioned Jeffrey Grant, a former profession worker at CMS.
Past her authorized arguments, Vitolo mentioned sharing the knowledge with DHS might have a chilling impact on states, maybe prompting them to withhold data. States, she added, wanted to protect towards the “legal risk” they have been taking by giving federal officers information that could possibly be shared with deportation officers.
A ‘concerning’ growth
All states should legally present emergency Medicaid companies to non-U. S. residents, together with to those that are lawfully current however haven’t but met a five-year wait to use for Medicaid.
Seven states, together with the District, enable immigrants who usually are not dwelling legally within the nation to enroll, with full advantages, of their state’s Medicaid program. The states launched these applications throughout the Biden administration and mentioned they might not invoice the federal authorities to cowl these immigrants’ well being care prices.
The Trump administration has raised doubts about that pledge.
Nixon, the HHS spokesperson, mentioned that the state’s Medicaid applications for immigrants “opened the floodgates for illegal immigrants to exploit Medicaid — and forced hardworking Americans to foot the bill.”
The remaining states — New York, Oregon, Minnesota and Colorado — haven’t but submitted the identifiable information to CMS as a part of the overview, in keeping with a public well being official who has reviewed CMS’s requests to the states.
State well being officers from the District and Washington didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Initially Printed: June 14, 2025 at 2:57 PM PDT
