A coalition of 20 Democrat-led states is suing the Trump administration for sharing Medicaid data with immigration officials, arguing it violates privacy protections.
The suit, spearheaded by Californian and filed Tuesday, argues the Trump administration violated the law in sharing data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that had nothing to do with administering the health care program.
“The Trump Administration has upended longstanding privacy protections with its decision to illegally share sensitive, personal health data with ICE. In doing so, it has created a culture of fear that will lead to fewer people seeking vital emergency medical care,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “I’m sickened by this latest salvo in the President’s anti-immigrant campaign. We’re headed to court to prevent any further sharing of Medicaid data — and to ensure any of the data that’s already been shared is not used for immigration enforcement purposes.”
The states argue that failure to notify them of data sharing plans violates the Administrative Procedures Act as well as the Social Security Act; the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA; the Federal Information Security Modernization Act and the Privacy Act.
The data transfer, first reported by The Associated Press last month, showed 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 Centers 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, D.C., all of which allow non-U.S. citizens to enroll in Medicaid programs that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars.
The move comes as the Trump administration has used a number of moves to target migrants, including those with lawful status in the U.S.
ICE agents have been conducting arrests of migrants after those in immigration court leave hearings, prompting critiques from Democrats that the Trump administration is targeting those seeking to immigrate through lawful pathways.
The Trump administration has sought to tap a number of databases to gain information about migrants, including IRS data.
—The Associated Press contributed.
