Breaking: ICE Gains Access to 79 Million Medicaid Records for Deportation Efforts
Breaking: ICE Gains Access to 79 Million Medicaid Records for Deportation Efforts
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has secretly granted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials unprecedented access to the personal data of 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses, ethnicities, and Social Security numbers. An agreement, signed Monday and obtained by The Associated Press, allows ICE to access this sensitive information to locate and track immigrants potentially living in the United States without legal status.
This extraordinary disclosure, which has not been publicly announced, marks a significant escalation in the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts. While Health and Human Services (HHS) officials previously claimed similar data-sharing was for rooting out improper enrollment, this new agreement explicitly states ICE will use the data to find “the location of aliens” for deportation.
The move has sparked immediate concern among lawmakers and some Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) officials, who question its legality and potential impact. Critics warn that such disclosures could deter vulnerable populations, including U.S. citizens and those lawfully present, from seeking essential medical care for fear of being targeted.
Under the agreement, ICE officials can access the database, which contains names, addresses, birth dates, and racial/ethnic information, for limited hours until September 9. This controversial policy follows previous demands by Trump officials last month for similar data from states offering full Medicaid to non-U.S. citizens, leading to lawsuits from 20 states alleging violations of federal health privacy laws.
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