President Donald Trump’s deputies have completed a data-sharing deal to let ICE agents use government Medicaid data while enforcing the nation’s popular immigration laws, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Under a new agreement, “ICE will use the CMS [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] data to allow ICE to receive identity and location information on aliens identified by ICE,” the agreement says,” the AP reported Thursday, adding:
The department’s assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, said in an emailed statement that the two agencies “are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans.”
Millions of illegal migrants have shared their identities and addresses to use the taxpayer-funded Medicaid system, often via emergency rooms and state-funded clinics.
The data is not being copied to ICE. Instead, ICE will be allowed to verify identities and addresses during regular work hours.
The information-sharing deal reflects the determination of Trump’s deputies to remove a myriad bureaucratic and regulatory barriers to the enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws.
Prior administrations barred ICE from using the data for enforcing the nation’s laws. Hannah Katch, a former appointee at CMS during the Biden administration, comaplined about the information-sharing:
“It’s unthinkable that CMS would violate the trust of Medicaid enrollees in this way,” Katch said. She said the personally identifiable information of enrollees has not been historically shared outside of the agency unless for law enforcement purposes to investigate waste, fraud or abuse of the program.
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In an email chain obtained by the AP called “Hold DHS Access — URGENT,” CMS chief legal officer Rujul H. Desai said they should first ask the Department of Justice to appeal to the White House directly for a “pause” on the information sharing. In a response the next day, HHS lawyer Lena Amanti Yueh said that the Justice Department was “comfortable with CMS proceeding with providing DHS access.”
Twenty Democratic-run, pro-migrant state governments are suing the federal government to help hide the names and numbers of illegal migrants who are using the taxpayers’ healthcare system.
“This is about the weaponization of data, full stop,” said Rep. Pramilla Jayapal (D-WA), an immigrant from India.
ElPais.com reported:
federal law requires all states to offer emergency Medicaid, a temporary coverage that pays only for life-saving emergency room services to anyone, including non-U.S. citizens. Immigrants frequently use it, regardless of their legal status in the country.
seven states — all governed by Democrats — allow noncitizens full access to the state Medicaid program in their respective territories. These are California, New York, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, and Minnesota. The states launched these programs during the administration of former president Joe Biden and pledged not to bill the federal government to cover the health care costs of immigrants who used them.
The information-sharing deal comes as Democrats and their allies incite violence against ICE enforcement:
