WASHINGTON, DC – The National Health Law Program (NHeLP) condemns in the strongest terms the Trump administration’s unprecedented and dangerous disclosure of Medicaid enrollees’ personal information to immigration enforcement officials. According to recent reporting, federal officials shared sensitive data of people living in California, Illinois, Washington, and Washington, D.C — including names, addresses, and immigration status—with the Department of Homeland Security. This has weaponized a health care program designed to help people and turned it into a tool of harm.
“Medicaid exists to ensure access to lifesaving health care,” said Kim Lewis, Director of California Policy at NHeLP. “Using Medicaid as a means for immigration enforcement betrays the trust that individuals place in public programs and significantly undermines public health. People who need health care should be able to get it without fear of ICE raids. This week we’ve seen the Trump administration’s indiscriminate immigration raids in Los Angeles, but it won’t stop in LA. This should concern all of us.”
“Pure and simple: Our laws promise those who are covered through Medicaid that their personally identifying and health information will be held confidential. Sharing that information with those who are taking actions against immigrants provides yet another example of this administration running roughshod over bedrock legal protections,” said Sarah Somers, NHeLP Legal Director. “Sharing this data will almost certainly lead to deportations, family separation, and a chilling effect that discourages eligible individuals from enrolling in Medicaid or seeking necessary medical care.”
That chilling effect is already well-documented. During the previous Trump administration, proposed changes to the public charge rule, which penalizes lawfully present immigrants for using public benefits, caused widespread fear in immigrant communities, leading many to withdraw from or avoid enrolling in public programs, even when they or their children were fully eligible.
