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California is main a coalition with 19 different states in a lawsuit in opposition to the Trump administration for transferring Medicaid knowledge to the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), which homes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Democrat Legal professional Basic Rob Bonta mentioned the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday within the Northern District of California represents the twenty eighth time in 23 weeks – or greater than as soon as every week – that California is difficult the president in courtroom.
“Upon data and perception, the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS)’s Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Providers (CMS) handed over a trove of people’ protected well being knowledge obtained from States, together with California, Illinois, and Washington, to different federal businesses, together with the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS),” the grievance says. “Hundreds of thousands of people’ well being data was transferred with out their consent, and in violation of federal regulation.”
These states enable non-U.S. residents to enroll in Medicaid packages that they are saying pay for his or her bills utilizing solely state taxpayer {dollars}. The Related Press first reported final month that the sharing of information by HHS to DHS included addresses, names, social safety numbers, immigration standing and claims knowledge for enrollees in these states.
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California Legal professional Basic Rob Bonta is main a coalition of 20 state attorneys common in a brand new lawsuit in opposition to the Trump administration filed Tuesday. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Photographs)
“In doing so, the Trump administration silently destroyed longstanding guardrails that protected the general public’s delicate well being knowledge and restricted its use just for functions that Congress has approved, violating federal legal guidelines together with the necessities of the Administrative Process Act (APA),” the lawsuit says. The grievance alleges violations of a number of different federal privateness legal guidelines, together with the Well being Insurance coverage Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, often called HIPPA.
HHS has claimed that the switch of information to DHS is supposed “to make sure that Medicaid advantages are reserved for people who’re lawfully entitled to obtain them.”
“However Congress itself prolonged protection and federal funds for emergency Medicaid to all people residing in the USA, even those that lack passable immigration standing,” the grievance says. “The States have and can proceed to confirm people’ eligibility for federally funded Medicaid companies utilizing established federal methods and cooperate with federal oversight actions to make sure that the federal authorities pays just for these Medicaid companies which can be legally approved.”
Attorneys common from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington joined the swimsuit.
“President Trump, Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are weaponizing Medicaid to gas their anti-immigration marketing campaign,” Bonta mentioned at a digital press convention. “They’re threatening the private well being knowledge of 78.4 million people who’re enrolled in Medicaid and the youngsters’s medical health insurance program, CHIP, for his or her mass surveillance and federal immigration enforcement plans.”
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem attends a roundtable dialogue after touring a migrant detention heart, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” situated on the website of the Dade-Collier Coaching and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida, on July 1, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP through Getty Photographs)
“This isn’t about reducing waste or going after fraud,” Bonta mentioned. “That is about going after susceptible individuals who entrusted the state and the federal authorities to assist them entry well being care, a primary human proper.”
The grievance says they intend to “shield their State Medicaid packages, and to stop them from being utilized in service of an anti-immigrant campaign, or different functions unrelated to administration of these packages.”
Underneath Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz’s management, the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Providers (CMS) “is aggressively cracking down on states that could be misusing federal Medicaid funds to subsidize look after unlawful immigrants – that features California,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon mentioned in an announcement to Fox Information Digital. “This oversight effort – supported by lawful interagency knowledge sharing with DHS – is concentrated on figuring out waste, fraud, and systemic abuse.”
“HHS acted completely inside its authorized authority – and in full compliance with all relevant legal guidelines – to make sure that Medicaid advantages are reserved for people who’re lawfully entitled to obtain them,” Nixon added. “We aren’t solely defending taxpayer {dollars} – we’re restoring credibility to certainly one of America’s most significant packages. The American folks deserve accountability. HHS is delivering it.”
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The plaintiffs declare their states “will lose federal funds as concern and confusion stemming from the disclosures trigger noncitizens and their relations to disenroll, or refuse to enroll, in emergency Medicaid for which they’re in any other case eligible, leaving States and their security internet hospitals to foot the invoice for federally mandated emergency healthcare companies.”
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies earlier than the Home Vitality and Commerce Committee Well being Subcommittee on June 24, 2025. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Photographs)
“States can even in the end bear the damaging public well being prices related to decreased utilization of healthcare for childbirth and different emergency circumstances,” the grievance says. “In the meantime, the general public will undergo irreparable harm attributable to elevated morbidity and mortality.”
Bonta famous California’s Medi-Cal program offers public healthcare protection for one out of each three Californians, together with greater than two million noncitizens. As a result of not all noncitizens are eligible for federally funded Medi-Cal companies, California makes use of state-only funds to supply a model of the Medi-Cal program to all eligible state residents, “no matter their immigration standing,” he mentioned.
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“The Trump Administration has upended longstanding privateness protections with its resolution to illegally share delicate, private well being knowledge with ICE. In doing so, it has created a tradition of concern that can result in fewer folks searching for important emergency medical care,” Bonta added in an announcement. “I’m sickened by this newest salvo within the President’s anti-immigrant marketing campaign. We’re headed to courtroom to stop any additional sharing of Medicaid knowledge — and to make sure any of the information that’s already been shared shouldn’t be used for immigration enforcement functions.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
