This article was first published in Truthout on July 17, 2025, and is shared here with permission.
The Trump administration is reportedly providing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with the personal information of all 79 million Medicaid participants, granting significant power to the agency as it impacts communities nationwide.
The shared data includes names, addresses, ethnicity, race, birth dates, and Social Security numbers of Medicaid participants, as per an agreement between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Homeland Security. The Associated Press reported on this agreement.
The agreement specifies that ICE cannot download the data and is only permitted to access it from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, until September 9. However, the Trump administration has faced lawsuits from states concerning the sharing of Medicaid data with ICE, arguing that the laws protecting such data are clear.
The agreement states that the information sharing aims to assist ICE in locating “the location of aliens” in the U.S. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, mentioned that the agreement is intended to “explore an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits intended for law-abiding Americans.”
Importantly, undocumented immigrants are not eligible to enroll in Medicaid, and other immigrants must meet specific criteria to qualify. Conservatives have long alleged widespread fraud within Medicaid and other welfare programs, yet there is no evidence supporting these claims.
Moreover, there is no need to grant ICE access to the data to investigate fraud, as Medicaid fraud investigators exist in every state and territory to handle such tasks.
Nevertheless, using fraud and unauthorized immigration as reasons, Trump administration officials have worked tirelessly to expand the police state—replacing public services designed to assist working-class Americans with law enforcement officers who enjoy anonymity and impunity.
Republicans have utilized falsehoods about fraud and immigration to advance their primary budget bill, which will remove millions of Americans from Medicaid coverage when the bill’s cuts are implemented in 2027. Consequently, some Medicaid recipients may be targeted by the Trump administration due to the data-sharing agreement and subsequently lose their essential benefits.
Simultaneously, concerns about racial profiling or surveillance resulting from the data-sharing agreement may deter individuals from enrolling in Medicaid initially.
By focusing on Medicaid, the Trump administration is targeting some of the most impoverished Americans. Medicaid offers health care coverage for households earning around or below the poverty line, as well as individuals unable to work, such as those with certain disabilities.
“It’s unimaginable that CMS would breach the trust of Medicaid enrollees in this manner,” said Hannah Katch, a former CMS adviser, to the Associated Press.