Trump administration gives personal data of immigrant medicaid enrollees to deportation officials

Economic Times

14 hours ago

US President Donald Trump's administration this week provided deportation officials with personal data, including the immigration status, on millions of Medicaid enrollees, a move that could make it easier to locate people as part of his sweeping immigration crackdown.An internal memo and emails obtained by The Associated Press show that Medicaid officials unsuccessfully sought to block the data transfer, citing legal and ethical concerns.
Nevertheless, two top advisers to Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr ordered the dataset handed over to the Department of Homeland Security, the emails show. Officials at the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services were given just 54 minutes on Tuesday to comply with the directive.
The dataset includes the information of people living in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington, DC, all of which allow non-US citizens to enrol in Medicaid programmes that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars. CMS transferred the information just as the Trump administration was ramping up its enforcement efforts in Southern California.
(Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates) Besides helping authorities locate migrants, experts said, the government could also use the information to scuttle the hopes of migrants seeking green cards, permanent residency or citizenship if they had ever obtained Medicaid benefits funded by the federal government.
California Governor Gavin Newsom's office said in a statement that it was concerned about how deportation officials might utilise the data, especially as federal authorities conduct immigration raids with the assistance of National Guard troops and Marines in Los Angeles."We deeply value the privacy of all Californians," the statement said. "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 also expressed alarm. US 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".US Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the data sharing was legal. He declined to answer questions about why the data was shared with DHS and how it would 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 said.An official with DHS, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement 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 appears to be part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to provide DHS with more data on migrants. In May, for example, a federal judge refused to block the Internal Revenue Service from sharing immigrants' tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help agents locate and detain people living without legal status in the US.
A targeted review of millions of immigrant Medicaid enrollees
CMS announced late last month that it was reviewing some state's Medicaid enrollees to ensure federal funds have not been used to pay for coverage for people with "unsatisfactory immigration status". In a letter sent to state Medicaid officials, CMS said that the effort was part of Trump's February 19 executive order titled "Ending Taxpayer Subsidisation of Open Border".As part of the review, California, Washington and Illinois shared details about non-US citizens who have enrolled in their states' Medicaid programme, according to a June 6 memo signed by Medicaid Deputy Director Sara Vitolo that was obtained by the AP. The memo was written by several CMS officials under Vitolo's supervision, according to sources familiar with the process.The data includes addresses, names, social security numbers and claims data for enrollees in those states, according to the memo and two people familiar with what the states sent to CMS. Both individuals spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to share details about the data exchange.CMS officials attempted to fight the data-sharing request from Homeland Security, saying that to do so would violate federal laws, including the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act of 1974, according to Vitolo's memo."Multiple federal statutory and regulatory authorities do not permit CMS to share this information with entities outside of CMS," Vitolo wrote, further explaining that the sharing of such personal data is only allowed for directly administering the Medicaid programme.Sharing information about Medicaid applicants or enrollees with DHS officials would violate a "long-standing policy", wrote Vitolo, a career employee, to Trump appointee Kim Brandt, deputy administrator and chief operating officer of CMS.