Trump administration hands over nation's Medicaid enrollee data, including addresses, to ICE
The information will give ICE officials the ability to find 'the location of aliens' across the country, says the agreement signed Monday between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security. The agreement has not been announced publicly.
The extraordinary disclosure of millions of such personal health data to deportation officials is the latest escalation in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, which has repeatedly tested legal boundaries in its effort to arrest 3,000 people daily.
Lawmakers and some CMS officials have challenged the legality of deportation officials' access to some states' Medicaid enrollee data. It's a move, first reported by the AP last month, that Health and Human Services officials said was aimed at rooting out people enrolled in the program improperly.
But the latest data-sharing agreement makes clear what ICE officials intend to do with the health data.
'ICE will use the CMS data to allow ICE to receive identity and location information on aliens identified by ICE,' the agreement says.
HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon would not respond to the latest agreement. It is unclear, though, whether Homeland Security has yet accessed the information. The department's assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, said in an emailed statement that the two agencies 'are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans.'
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Reuters
12 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump's tariffs give chocolate makers in Canada, Mexico an edge over US firms
LONDON/NEW YORK, July 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's trade tariffs are meant to boost domestic manufacturing. But in the chocolate industry, they're doing the opposite: ramping up the cost of importing already-pricey cocoa and hurting the competitiveness of local factories versus Canadian and Mexican outfits that supply the U.S., according to conversations with 11 industry executives, representatives, experts and traders. Under the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade pact (USMCA), which the Trump administration has confirmed remains in place, Canada and Mexico can export chocolate to the U.S. tariff-free no matter where they sourced their inputs of cocoa - a tropical crop that does not grow in the United States. Canada also has zero tariffs on imports of raw and semi-processed cocoa like butter and powder, while Mexico grows its own beans, meaning factories both north and south of the U.S. border can produce more cheaply than those domestically who now have to pay tariffs of between 10-25% on cocoa inputs. The rates could rise to 35% on August 1. A government official said that the White House continues to monitor trends in trade and commerce and listen to industry feedback to deliver on Trump's economic agenda. Top U.S. chocolate maker Hershey, which mainly makes chocolate in the U.S. but has plants in Canada and Mexico, has estimated it would face $100 million in tariff costs in its third and fourth quarters if the levies remain in place. Smaller firms like Somerville, Massachusetts-based Taza Chocolate, which produces chocolate from scratch using imported cocoa, have no alternatives to U.S. manufacturing. Taza in May had to pay $24,124 in duties on a container of cocoa from Haiti, subject to the blanket 10% tariff imposed by Trump, a Customs and Border Protection invoice showed. Taza faces a customs cheque of more than $30,000 to release its next container of cocoa from the Dominican Republic, founder and CEO Alex Whitmore said. "For a company our size, that's our profit margin gone so the immediate thought is OK, the rules have changed, we just need to create the most cost-effective solution for the consumer," said Whitmore. He initially explored offshoring part of Taza's manufacturing to Canada to benefit from USMCA terms, but decided against it given the significant investment of both money and time that would require, in a volatile business environment. "Right now, the environment is so uncertain that we're just hunkering down and hoping this will pass," Whitmore said. "A lot of us business owners are kind of frozen." Customs data compiled for Reuters by Trade Data Monitor (TDM) shows Canada's chocolate exports to the U.S. grew by 10% in volume terms in the five months to end-May, indicating some Canadian manufacturers are taking advantage of the opportunity created by tariffs. Companies benefiting are mostly Canadian and Mexican contract chocolate makers, or multinational contractors like Barry Callebaut (BARN.S), opens new tab that have a significant footprint in Canada and Mexico, industry sources said. Barry Callebaut, which has just under half its North America chocolate factories in Canada and Mexico, declined to comment. Its CEO Peter Feld said at its July post-results conference call: "On tariffs ... we have operations in the U.S., we have operations in Canada, we have operations in Mexico. So we can actually navigate this environment in the right way." Contract chocolate firms produce raw chocolate that U.S. factories add ingredients to and sell as American chocolate. Tariffs - a pillar of Trump's "America First" economic agenda - come at a delicate time for U.S. chocolate makers as consumers are already buying less after absorbing double-digit inflation over the past several years. In chocolate specifically, prices have risen sharply as cocoa , tripled in value to hit record highs in the first four months of last year, and remains well above historical averages because of adverse weather and disease in top growers Ivory Coast and Ghana. Under pressure from rising input costs, Hershey (HSY.N), opens new tab earlier this month rolled out double-digit price hikes across its confectionary products like Reese's cups to retailers like Walmart (WMT.N), opens new tab and Kroger (KR.N), opens new tab. Cocoa accounts for about 30-50% of the cost of a bar of chocolate. Hershey said its recent price hikes were not related to tariffs. Taza has raised its wholesale prices by 10% since a year ago, and the price of its chocolate bars on its website rose in June to $6.99 from $5.99 previously, but Whitmore also said tariffs would cause further price hikes. Because cocoa can't be sourced domestically, Hershey said in May it is "engaging with the U.S. government to seek an exemption" for cocoa. It declined to comment on whether it was counting on imports from its Canada and Mexico plants to help mitigate tariff costs. M&Ms maker Mars, which said Tuesday it is investing $2 billion in its U.S. manufacturing, including chocolate, has not changed its sourcing structure and continues to make 94% of its U.S. products locally. A Lindt (LISN.S), opens new tab spokesperson said the Lindor truffle maker will decide on possible changes to its sourcing after August 1. Paolo Quadrini, director general of Mexican chocolate and candy association Aschoco Confimex, said U.S. tariffs are "creating new opportunities for Mexican companies." "The sentiment among companies and entrepreneurs, as well as requests from U.S. chocolate companies to manufacture in Mexico, is real and has been increasing," he said. The chocolate market in the U.S., the world's top chocolate consumer, is worth $25-30 billion, according to investment bank TD Cowen, and imports from top supplier Canada account for about 10% of that total, while those from No. 2 supplier Mexico account for some 2.5%. Tareq Hadhad, CEO of mid-sized Nova Scotia-based chocolate maker Peace by Chocolate said tariffs had largely prompted Canadian and American firms to opt for locally produced goods but that contract chocolate makers in Canada had benefited from the new trade dynamic. "It's an advantage for them," he said.
The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
Wife of Marine Corps veteran released from ICE custody after advocacy from GOP Senator's office
A Marine Corps veteran's wife has been released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention following advocacy from Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican who backs President Donald Trump 's hardline immigration crackdown. Until this week, Mexican national Paola Clouatre had been one of tens of thousands of people in ICE custody as the Trump administration continues to press immigration officers to arrest 3,000 people a day suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. Emails reviewed by The Associated Press show that Kennedy's office put in a request Friday for the Department of Homeland Security to release her after a judge halted her deportation order earlier that week. By Monday, she was out of a remote ICE detention center in north Louisiana and home in Baton Rouge with her veteran husband Adrian Clouatre and their two young children. Kennedy's constituent services representative, Christy Tate, congratulated Adrian Clouatre on his wife's release and thanked him for his military service. 'I am so happy for you and your family,' Tate wrote in an email to Adrian Clouatre. 'God is truly great!' Kennedy's office proved 'instrumental' in engaging with the Department of Homeland Security, according to Carey Holliday, the family's attorney. Kennedy's office did not provide further comment. Another Louisiana Republican, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, also intervened recently with the Department of Homeland Security to secure the release of an Iranian mother from ICE detention following widespread outcry. The woman has lived for decades in New Orleans. Kennedy has generally been a staunch supporter of Trump's immigration policies. 'Illegal immigration is illegal — duh,' Kennedy posted on his Facebook page on July 17, amid a series of recent media appearances decrying efforts to prevent ICE officers from making arrests. In April, however, he criticized the Trump administration for mistakenly deporting a Maryland man. The Department of Homeland Security previously told The AP it considered Clouatre to be 'illegally' in the country. An email chain shared by Adrian Clouatre shows that the family's attorney reached out to Kennedy's office in early June after Paola Clouatre was detained in late May. Tate received Paola Clouatre's court documents by early July and said she then contacted ICE, according to the email exchange. On July 23, an immigration judge halted Paola Clouatre's deportation order. After Adrian Clouatre notified Kennedy's office, Tate said she 'sent the request to release' Paola Clouatre to DHS and shared a copy of the judge's motion with the agency, emails show. In an email several days later, Tate said that ICE told her it 'continues to make custody determinations on a case-by-case basis based on the specific circumstances of each case' and had received the judge's decision from Kennedy's office 'for consideration." The next working day, Paola Clouatre was released from custody. 'We will continue to keep you, your family and others that are experiencing the same issues in our prayers," Tate said in an email to Adrian Clouatre. 'If you need our assistance in the future, please contact us." Back with her children Paola Clouatre had been detained by ICE officers on May 27 during an appointment related to her green card application. She had entered the country as a minor with her mother from Mexico more than a decade ago and was legally processed while seeking asylum, she, her husband and her attorney say. But Clouatre's mother later failed to show up for a court date, leading a judge to issue a deportation order against Paola Clouatre in 2018, though by then she had become estranged from her mother and was homeless. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Clouatre's release. Adrian Clouatre said he wished the agency would "actually look at the circumstances' before detaining people like his wife. 'It shouldn't just be like a blanket 'Oh, they're illegal, throw them in ICE detention.'' Reunited with her breastfeeding infant daughter and able to snuggle with her toddler son, Paola Clouatre told AP she feels like a mother again. 'I was feeling bad,' she said of detention. 'I was feeling like I failed my kids.' It will likely be a multiyear court process before Paola Clouatre's immigration court proceedings are formally closed, but things look promising, and she should be able to obtain her green card eventually, her attorney said. For now, she's wearing an ankle monitor, but still able to pick up life where she left off, her husband says. The day of her arrest in New Orleans, the couple had planned to sample some of the city's famed French pastries known as beignets and her husband says they'll finally get that chance again: 'We're going to make that day up.' ___
The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
More churches are suing ICE over arrests in places of worship: ‘Congregations have gone underground'
Another group of Christian denominations is suing Donald Trump's administration to stop immigration enforcement arrests in their churches. A lawsuit from Baptist, Lutheran and Quaker groups accuses Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of chilling First Amendment protections and infringing on religious freedoms. The groups filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the policy on Tuesday. After Trump entered office, the administration rescinded previous Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy that prohibited enforcement actions in sensitive locations such as places of worship, as well as schools and hospitals. Within the last month, federal agents seized a man in front of a church, brandished a rifle at a pastor and detained a grandfather dropping off his granddaughter at a church school in Los Angeles, according to the lawsuit. Federal officers have also recently chased several men into a church parking lot and arrested a parishioner at churches across southern California, according to church leaders. 'As a result, people across the country, regardless of immigration status, reasonably fear attending houses of worship,' according to the lawsuit. 'The open joy and spiritual restoration of communal worship has been replaced by isolation, concealment, and fear.' Attendance and donations have plummeted, and 'congregations have gone underground to protect their parishioners, eschewing in-person meetings central to their faith,' plaintiffs argued. Baptisms are being held in private, churches have stopped advertising immigrant-focused ministries, and houses of worship 'have suddenly had to lock those doors and train their staff how to respond to immigration raids,' according to the complaint. The lawsuit is at least the fourth filed by faith leaders against ICE policy within the last six months. In February, more than two dozen religious groups similarly sued the administration. A federal judge ultimately partially granted a restraining order that blocked ICE from enforcement actions in roughly 1,700 places of worship in 35 states and Washington, D.C. But in April, a Trump-appointed judge sided with the administration in a similar case brought by more than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington, D.C., argued that drops in church attendance could not be definitively linked to ICE actions, and congregants were likely staying home to avoid ICE anywhere in their own neighborhoods rather than places of worship. 'As people of faith, we cannot abide losing the basic right to provide care and compassion,' said Bishop Brenda Bos with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's California synod, among the plaintiffs in the latest legal battle. 'Not only are our spaces no longer guaranteed safety, but our worship services, educational events and social services have all been harmed by the rescission of sensitive space protection,' Bos added. 'Our call is love our neighbor, and we have been denied the ability to live out that call.' Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the administration is protecting places of worship by 'preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting these locations and taking safe haven there because these criminals knew law enforcement couldn't go inside under the Biden Administration.' The lawsuit arrives as Christian leadership across the country — and at the Vatican — grapples with the consequences of the Trump administration's aggressive anti-immigration policy. With a directive from the White House to make at least 3,000 daily arrests, ICE received record-breaking funding from Congress — expanding the agency's budget to be larger than most countries' militaries — to hire more officers and expand detention space. Miami's Archbishop Thomas Wenski condemned public officials' rhetoric praising Alligator Alcatraz, and San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas in California also issued a rare decree this month excusing parishioners from attending mass over 'genuine fear' of immigration raids. Pope Leo XIV, who is American-born and whose papacy began less than four months into Trump's presidency, had previously criticized the administration's immigration policies and rhetoric. Washington, D.C. Cardinal Robert McElroy has also criticized the administration's agenda of 'mass, indiscriminate deportation of men and women and children and families which literally rips families apart and is intended to do so.' In Los Angeles, the largest archdiocese in the country, Archbishop Jose Gomez accused the administration of having 'no immigration policy beyond the stated goal of deporting thousands of people each day.' 'This is not policy, it is punishment, and it can only result in cruel and arbitrary outcomes,' wrote the bishop, who is also a naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico. 'Already we are hearing stories of innocent fathers and mothers being wrongly deported, with no recourse to appeal.'
