The Trump administration has reportedly given the personal data of millions of Medicaid enrollees to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as part of President Trump’s sweeping deportation agenda.
Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) handed over a dataset on Medicaid enrollees in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington, D.C., according to The Associated Press. All these states allow non-U.S. citizens to receive Medicaid benefits.
The AP obtained an internal memo and emails showing that two top advisers to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the data sharing and gave the CMS 45 minutes to comply. The data includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers and immigration status.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), in a statement to the AP, said the “potential data transfer” was “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.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is aiming to deport 3,000 immigrants lacking permanent legal status per day, according to White House aide Stephen Miller.
The administration has frequently threatened states that don’t cooperate with Trump’s immigration policies. Trump this week suggested he’d like to see Newsom arrested over his response to protests in Los Angeles against federal workplace immigration sweeps.
The CMS announced May 27 that it was “increasing federal oversight to stop states from misusing federal Medicaid dollars to cover health care for individuals who are in the country illegally,” in line with Trump’s executive order “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” signed Feb. 19.
“Medicaid funds must serve American citizens in need and those legally entitled to benefits,” CMS Deputy Administrator Drew Snyder said at the time. “If states cannot or will not comply, CMS will step in.”
According to the AP, Medicaid Deputy Director Sara Vitolo wrote in a memo that this move could violate federal laws such as the Social Security Act and Privacy Act of 1974.
The growing tension between state and federal authorities over Trump’s deportation push was on full display Thursday when Democratic governors appeared for a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing.
Last month, a judge allowed ICE to have access to IRS data to facilitate mass deportations, which overturned decades of precedent in handling of personal data between agencies.
