A federal judge has temporarily blocked top health officials from sharing Medicaid enrollees’ personal data with immigration authorities, dealing a blow to attempts from President Donald Trump’s administration to tap into sensitive data to expand his mass deportation agenda.
The Department of Homeland Security is blocked from Medicaid data in 20 states that sued the administration, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services cannot share that data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help with arrests and removal operations, according to Tuesday’s ruling.
ICE and the Center for Medicaid Services had previously shared a policy for more than a decade that prevented agents from using Medicaid data for immigration enforcement, the court found.
California District Judge Vince Chhabria said there was nothing “categorically unlawful” about Homeland Security obtaining that information, but using it for immigration enforcement “threatens to significantly disrupt the operation of Medicaid — a program that Congress has deemed critical for the provision of health coverage to the nation’s most vulnerable residents.”
The injunction from Chhabria, who was appointed by Barack Obama, will remain in place for 14 days from the order, or until HHS and DHS perform a “reasoned decision-making process” that complies with federal law as a legal challenge continues.
“The Trump Administration’s move to use Medicaid data for immigration enforcement upended longstanding policy protections without notice or consideration for the consequences,” according to a statement from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the lawsuit with a coalition of attorneys general from 19 other states.
“As the president continues to overstep his authority in his inhumane anti-immigrant crusade, this is a clear reminder that he remains bound by the law,” he added.
The Independent has requested comment from HHS and CMS.
ICE reached an agreement with CMS earlier this year to dive into information belonging to the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities, to determine whether any of them are in the country illegally.
Critics feared that the unprecedented access to Americans’ data could also strike fear among immigrants seeking emergency help for themselves and their children. ICE has also expanded enforcement operations near hospitals as well as churches, schools and courthouses — places where previous administrations had prohibited agents.
That Medicaid database contains names, addresses, birth dates, ethnic and racial information, as well as Social Security numbers for people enrolled in the federal healthcare program that supports low-income Americans, including millions of children.
Last month, HHS issued a directive that rolled back access to more than a dozen federal health programs, now limited to people with only “qualified” immigration status, which excludes undocumented immigrants as well as immigrants with lawful status in the country.
The move blocks impacted immigrants from community health centers as well as programs like Head Start, an early education program that serves millions of young children.
“This arbitrary and harmful directive exemplifies this administration’s tunnel vision, which prioritizes its anti-immigrant crusade, no matter the harms,” according to a statement from Ming-Qi Chu, deputy director of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project.
The directive threatens access to family planning services, cancer screenings, and addiction treatment, among other federally backed programs. “It serves no one’s interest to deny people these essential services, and HHS must withdraw this incredibly misguided directive,” Chu said.
