20 states sue after the Trump administration releases private Medicaid
data to deportation officials
[July 02, 2025]
By AMANDA SEITZ and KIMBERLY KINDY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration violated federal privacy laws
when it turned over Medicaid data on millions of enrollees to
deportation officials last month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta
alleged on Tuesday, saying he and 19 other states' attorneys general
have sued over the move.
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s advisers ordered the release of
a dataset that includes the private health information of people living
in California, Illinois, Washington state, and Washington, D.C., to the
Department of Homeland Security, The Associated Press first reported
last month. All of those states allow non-U.S. citizens to enroll in
Medicaid programs that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer
dollars.
The unusual data sharing of private health information, including
addresses, names, social security numbers, immigration status, and
claims data for enrollees in those states, was released to deportation
officials as they accelerated enforcement efforts across the country.
The data could be used to help the Department of Homeland Security
locate migrants in its mass deportation campaign, experts said.
Bonta said the Trump administration's data release violates federal
health privacy protection laws, including the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
“This is about flouting seven decades of federal law policy and practice
that have made it clear that personal healthcare data is confidential
and can only be shared in certain narrow circumstances that benefit the
public’s health or the Medicaid program,” Bonta said during a news
conference on Tuesday.
The Trump administration has sought to arm deportation officials with
more data on immigrants. In May, for example, a federal judge refused to
block the Internal Revenue Service from sharing immigrants’ tax data
with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help agents locate and
detain people living without legal status in the U.S.
The move to shore up the federal government's data on immigrant Medicaid
enrollees appears to have been set in motion in May, when the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it would be reviewing some
states rolls to ensure federal funds have not been used to pay for
coverage for people with “unsatisfactory immigration status.”
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Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,
testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Committee, Tuesday,
June 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
 As part of the review, CMS asked
California, Washington and Illinois to share details about non-U.S.
citizens who have enrolled in their state’s Medicaid program,
according to a June 6 memo signed by Medicaid Deputy Director Sara
Vitolo that was obtained by the AP. The memo was written by several
CMS officials under Vitolo’s supervision, according to sources
familiar with the process.
CMS officials attempted to fight the data sharing request from
Homeland Security, saying that to do so would violate federal laws,
including the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act of 1974,
according to the memo.
The legal arguments outlined in the memo were not persuasive to
Trump appointees at HHS, which oversees the Medicaid agency.
Four days after the memo was sent, on June 10, HHS officials
directed the transfer of “the data to DHS by 5:30 ET today,”
according to email exchanges obtained by AP.
HHS is “aggressively cracking down on states that may be misusing
federal Medicaid funds,” agency spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a
statement. The agency has not provided details on DHS' role in the
effort. Nixon also defended the legality of releasing the data to
DHS.
“HHS acted entirely within its legal authority – and in full
compliance with all applicable laws – to ensure that Medicaid
benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to
receive them,” he said in the statement.
Dozens of Democratic members of Congress — in both the House and
Senate — have sent letters to the involved agencies, demanding that
data sharing cease and that Homeland Security destroy the
information it has received so far. —
Associated Press writer Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco
contributed.
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