The Trump administration is displayed with a plan that is sure to fuel the alarm in California immigrant communities: handing the personal data of millions of medical beneficiaries to federal immigration officials who seek to find people living in the United States illegally.
The enormous trading of private information, which includes domestic addresses, social security numbers and ethnic groups of 79 million registered Medicaid, will allow those responsible for immigration and customs application to locate immigrants they suspect are not documented, according to an agreement signed this week between centers for the services of Medicar and Medicare and the Ministry of Interior Security and the Ministry of Interior Security and obtained by the Associated Press.
“The ice will use CMS data to allow ice to receive identity and location information on the extraterrestrials identified by ice,” says the agreement.
The plan, which has not been publicly announced, is the last stage of the Trump administration to collect sensitive information on people living in the United States while seeking to deliver its commitment to ranging against illegal immigration and to stop 3,000 undocumented immigrants per day. It is certain to face legal challenges.
Critics have sounded the alarm since the Trump administration ordered the CMS last month to send the DHS personal information on Medicaid registrants, including non -American citizens recorded in state -funded programs in California, Illinois, Washington and Washington, DC, DC,
These states exploit Medicaid programs funded by the State for immigrants who are otherwise ineligible for Federal Medicaid and have undertaken not to invoice the federal government.
California Sense. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff warned potential violations of federal laws on privacy last month last month While Trump officials planned to share personal health data.
“These actions raised not only ethical problems, but are contrary to the long-standing policy of the HHS and raise important concerns concerning any violations of the federal law,” the senators wrote in a letter to the Secretary of the United States of Health and Social Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of the DHS, Kristi Noem and the CMS administrator.
“We are deeply disturbed that this administration intends to use the private health information of individuals with the aim of any actions to apply the law targeting legal non-citizens and families of mixed status,” Padilla and Schiff said in a statement. “The HHS decision to share confidential health information with the DHS is a remarkable departure from the federal confidentiality protections established which should alarm all the Americans.”
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin refused to answer questions to find out if immigration officials are now accessing the personal data of Medicaid or how they plan to use it.
“President Trump has always promised to protect Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “To keep this promise after Joe Biden has flooded our country of tens of millions of illegal CMS and DHS explore an initiative to ensure that illegal foreigners do not receive the advantages of Medicaid which are intended for laws respectful of laws.”
Undreable immigrants are not allowed to register for Medicaid, a federal and joint state program that helps cover medical costs for low -income people. The program also limits the benefits for other legally present immigrants, some care about waiting periods before being able to receive coverage.
However, federal law obliges states to offer MEDICAIDE emergency, coverage that pays rescue services in emergency rooms to all, including non -American citizens.
A report of the Office Budget of Congress in 2024 revealed that a total of $ 27 billion was spent on Medicaid emergency for non-citizens between 2017 and 2023. This number represents less than 1% of overall expenses for Medicaid during this period. Nevertheless, Trump and other federal leaders have pushed to reduce spending on Medicaid, alleging that undocumented immigrants took advantage of the program.
Hannah Katch, CMS advisor during the Biden administration who previously worked for California Medicaid, told Times that the Trump administration plan to hand over Medicaid data represented “an incredible violation of confidence”.
The data that states sent to CMS have certain protections and requirements in the law and also by personality, said Katch. In order for CMS to share the information from the registrants of Medicaid outside the agency, she said, would have a devastating impact on people who depend urgently Medicaid to access intensive care.
“To scare people to ask for care when they know a medical emergency, or when their child is experiencing a medical emergency, it is an incredibly cruel action to take,” said Katch.
Elizabeth Laird, director of equity in civic technology at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said that the sharing of these data would further erode people’s confidence in government.
“By putting some of our health data, health and social services, has fundamentally betrayed the confidence of nearly 80 million people,” she said in a statement in Times.
“This breathtaking development proves that the claim of the administration to use this information to prevent fraud is a Trojan horse that will mainly advance its objective of deporting millions of people,” she said. “More than 90% of law fraud is committed by American citizens, emphasizing the false claim to share this information with ice.”
The Medicaid data sharing plan has not been the first time that the Trump administration has been looking to share personal information between the departments. In May, the Ministry of Agriculture told the United States that it had to hand over data to the beneficiaries of SNAP benefits.
Last month, California Medical Assn. warned that sharing the Trump administration of MEDICAID Personal Data would take nearly 15 million patients and their families at risk throughout the state.
Dr René Bravo, elected president of the CMA, said that sending patient information to expulsion officials “will have a devastating impact on communities and access to care that all people need”.
“Our work does not protect borders is to protect our patients and provide the best possible health care,” bravo said in a statement. “When patients come to see us, it is often the most vulnerable moments of their lives, and we offer a safe space for their care.”
The Orange County Immigrants and Refugees Office Information Informed the public last month that the CMS had been responsible for sending personal information from the DHS of Medicaid registrants, including non-citizens.
“These data, provided to the administration of health care, can now be used to locate individuals for the application of immigration or to challenge their future immigration requests,” the press release said.
The agency wrote that he had already heard of increased anxiety among customers who are afraid that their personal information can be used against them if they are looking for health services.
“We fear that this further erodes confidence in public institutions and care providers,” wrote the agency.
The Orange County supervisor, Vicente Sarmiento, which represents a large Latin population which includes Santa Ana and Anaheim parties, said that families registered in Medi-Cal have done with the reasonable expectation that their information would be kept private.
He described the action of “cruel violation” which erodes the confidence of people in the government.
“These actions discourage participation in health care and mean that some people may not seek the necessary medical services,” he said in a statement. “It harms the global community, creates serious public health problems and increases costs for our health system.”
Jose Serrano, director of the Orange County Immigrants and Refugees Office Office, said certain information about those who register for services has long been shared with the State, which transmits it to the federal government for research, financing and eligibility.
“The only thing that is different during this period is that information is used against people, especially those that are immigrants,” he said.
The situation has already caused anxiety among immigrant populations in the County of Orange, said Serrano. Some contacted the agency to ask him if they could not register programs or modify their addresses for fear that they or their families can be targeted by immigration officials.
“The truth is that immigrants spend more and invest more in our communities and the economy they take away,” said Serrano, adding that this medical information “is used against the same families who are already investing in our communities through the taxes they pay each year.”
