The Trump administration will start sharing the personal information of nearly 79 million Medicaid enrollees, including home addresses and ethnicities, with federal immigration authorities as President Donald Trump seeks to ramp up deportations.
In a statement to NBC News on Thursday, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin described the latest data-sharing agreement between her agency and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as “an initiative” to ensure undocumented immigrants don’t access Medicaid benefits.
The Associated Press first reported the new agreement, which hasn’t been made public yet.
Immigrants who lack legal immigration status and some lawfully present immigrants are already barred from enrolling in Medicaid, a federal health services program that provides nearly free coverage to beneficiaries. Yet federal law requires all states to offer emergency Medicaid, temporary coverage that pays only for lifesaving services in emergency rooms to anyone regardless of immigration status.
Medicaid is a jointly funded program between states and the federal government.
Under the agreement, officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement will use Medicaid data to get identity and location information of people ICE believes are in the country unlawfully, the AP reported.
ICE will have access to a database that includes the names, addresses, birth dates, ethnic and racial information, as well as Social Security numbers for all people enrolled in Medicaid, the AP reported. The agreement allows ICE to review the database only from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday until Sept. 9. It isn’t allowed to download the data.
The Associated Press contributed.
