A federal judge has ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to stop sharing personal information from Medicaid enrollees with immigration officials. The ruling blocks the Trump administration from using healthcare data to target migrants for deportation. District Judge Vince Chhabria granted a preliminary injunction on Tuesday that stops the Department of Homeland Security from accessing Medicaid data obtained from 20 states that filed a lawsuit against the policy.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had been providing Immigration and Customs Enforcement with personal details of millions of Medicaid enrollees since June, as reported by Fox News. This included sensitive information like Social Security numbers and home addresses of the country’s 79 million Medicaid participants. The data sharing agreements were never announced publicly, and Medicaid officials had tried to block the transfers but were overruled by top advisers to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The secret data-sharing arrangements have drawn sharp criticism from privacy advocates and state officials. The department quietly entered into agreements that gave immigration officials daily access to the most personal healthcare information without any public notice. Judge Chhabria wrote that using CMS data for immigration enforcement threatens to significantly disrupt the operation of Medicaid, a program that Congress has deemed critical for providing health coverage to the nation’s most vulnerable residents.
Judge says agencies failed to follow the proper decision-making process
The preliminary injunction affects the 20 states that sued to stop the sharing of Medicaid enrollees’ personal information with immigration officials. Judge Chhabria, an Obama appointee, noted that while there is nothing categorically unlawful about DHS collecting data from other agencies for immigration enforcement purposes, ICE has had a policy against using Medicaid data for that reason for 12 years. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has also long maintained a policy of using patients’ personal information only to run its healthcare programs.
The judge criticized the agencies for not carrying out a reasoned decision-making process before changing these long-standing policies. He wrote that given these policies, and given that various players in the Medicaid system have relied on them, it was incumbent upon the agencies to provide proper justification for the change. The judge added that the record in this case strongly suggests that no such process occurred.
Judge orders RFK Jr.'s health department-
— George Leroy Tirebiter (@MarkKepes) August 14, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal judge ordered the nation's health department to stop giving deportation officials access to the personal information – including home addresses – of all 79 million Medicaid enrollees
The disclosure of Medicaid data is part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to give DHS more data to help locate migrants and carry out the president’s mass deportation plan. This comes as the administration has faced criticism for its approach to immigration enforcement and healthcare policy. RFK Jr.’s leadership of HHS has been marked by controversy, including his reversal on data collection after years of warning Americans about government surveillance programs.
Judge Chhabria said the preliminary injunction will remain in effect until HHS provides reasoned decision-making for its new policy of sharing data with immigration officials or until litigation concludes. In May, a federal judge refused to block the Internal Revenue Service from sharing immigrants’ tax data with ICE officials, showing the administration’s continued push to access personal information for immigration enforcement purposes.
States fight back against secret data-sharing agreements
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement that the Trump administration’s move to use Medicaid data for immigration enforcement upended longstanding policy protections without notice or consideration for the consequences. He added that as the president continues to overstep his authority in his inhumane anti-immigrant crusade, this is a clear reminder that he remains bound by the law. The case highlights ongoing tensions between the federal government and states over immigration policies and data sharing practices.
HHS first provided the personal information of millions of Medicaid enrollees in June, prompting the lawsuit from the 20 states to block the new policy. In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services entered into a new agreement that allowed DHS to have daily access to the personal data. Neither agreement was announced publicly, and HHS has insisted that its agreement with DHS is legal.
Yet another illegal thing he’s doing. Sharing Medicaid recipients’ personal info (like ethnicity & address) with ICE violates HIPAA, federal Medicaid confidentiality laws, and even raise 4th Amendment issues. Data can’t just be handed over for immigration enforcement!
— steven(@arianaunext) July 17, 2025
Immigrants, both legal and illegal, are not authorized to enroll in the Medicaid program, which offers nearly free coverage for health services. However, under federal law, all states must offer emergency Medicaid, a temporary coverage that only covers lifesaving services in emergency rooms to anyone, including people who are not U.S. citizens. Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement that protecting people’s private health information is vitally important, and everyone should be able to seek medical care without fear of what the federal government may do with that information.
The sharing of Medicaid enrollees’ personal data could cause concern among people seeking emergency medical help for themselves or their children, immigration advocates have warned. This development comes as the administration has faced broader criticism for its handling of health data and healthcare policies under RFK Jr.’s leadership. The case represents a significant legal challenge to the administration’s immigration enforcement strategies and raises important questions about privacy rights and healthcare access for vulnerable populations.
