The Trump administration is said to have provided the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with personal information of millions of Medicaid recipients as part of its deportation strategy.
Officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shared a dataset concerning Medicaid beneficiaries in California, Illinois, Washington, and Washington, DC, as reported. Notably, these states permit non-US citizens to receive Medicaid benefits.
The Associated Press acquired an internal memo and email showing that two senior advisors to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. instructed the data-sharing and coordinated with the CMS for about 45 minutes. The shared data encompassed names, addresses, social security numbers, and immigration statuses.
Governor Gavin Newsom expressed concern in a statement that any “potential data transfers,” if accurate, could be illegal, especially in light of ongoing issues around the misuse of personal information and federal scrutiny on it.
According to White House aide Stephen Miller, Immigration and Customs Enforcement aims to deport around 3,000 undocumented migrants each day.
The administration has often warned states that do not align with Trump’s immigration policies. Recently, Trump implied that Newsom was seeking an arrest due to reactions to protests against mass immigrant sweeps in federal workplaces.
The CMS announced heightened oversight on May 27 as part of initiatives following Trump’s executive order, which seeks to prevent states from using federal Medicaid funds improperly to provide health care for undocumented individuals.
Drew Snyder, who was the assistant CMS administrator at the time, stated that the Medicaid funds are intended to serve American citizens and legally entitled individuals. He emphasized that CMS would take action if states fail to comply.
According to the Associated Press, Sarah Vitro, the Associate Director of Medicaid, mentioned in a memo that this action could breach several federal laws, including the 1974 Social Security Act and the Privacy Act.
The escalating tensions between state authorities and the federal government over deportation policies were evident during a House oversight hearing attended by the Democratic governor last Thursday.
Recently, a court ruling allowed ICE to shift decades-old practices regarding personal data sharing, permitting access to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) information for internal deportation efforts.
