States Claim ICE Violated Court Order on Medicaid Data Sharing

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A coalition of 22 states has told a federal court that the Trump administration appears to have violated a court order that limited the types of Medicaid data that could be shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation proceedings. The states claim the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has admitted to sharing a 'large and complex' set of Medicaid recipient data with ICE, even though the court said the data of citizens and lawful permanent residents is off limits.

Why it matters

The sharing of Medicaid data with ICE has prompted concerns that immigrants, including those in the country legally, may forgo health coverage for fear that enrolling in Medicaid could make them or their family members easier for ICE to find. The states are now asking the court to formally bar the sharing of protected health care information for people lawfully residing in the United States.

The details

In December, a court allowed ICE to pull some basic information from Medicaid, such as addresses, phone numbers, birth dates and citizenship or immigration status. However, the court also placed restrictions, saying ICE could not collect information on lawful permanent residents or citizens. Now, the states claim the federal government hasn't clarified how it determines who is 'lawfully present,' nor has it confirmed whether it's filtering out protected individuals from the data it gives to ICE.

• In December, a court allowed ICE to pull some basic information from Medicaid.
• The states are scheduled to appear in a San Francisco federal court on April 30 for a hearing.

What’s next

The plaintiff states are scheduled to appear in a San Francisco federal court on April 30 for a hearing, where the court will consider their request to formally bar the sharing of protected health care information for people lawfully residing in the United States.