Trump admin can share immigrants' Medicaid data with ICE, judge rules

Source: Politico

12/29/2025 05:18 PM EST


A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration can resume sharing location data about undocumented immigrants receiving public health insurance benefits with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, starting next month.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria’s ruling is a victory for President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation agenda as it allows ICE to use Medicaid data in deportation cases beginning Jan. 6. The agency had been blocked from doing so for months amid a legal challenge from blue states. “The sharing of such information is clearly authorized by law and the agencies have adequately explained their decisions,” Chhabria wrote in a seven-page order.

The decision marks a significant setback for California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 21 of his Democratic counterparts, who sued in July to prevent the Trump administration from using Medicaid data obtained from the Department of Health and Human Services to target immigrants. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible to enroll in federal Medicaid programs, but California and other blue states — Illinois, Colorado, New York, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, as well as Washington, D.C. — allow some people to receive state-funded benefits through their Medicaid implementation programs regardless of immigration status.

Chhabria’s order is narrowly tailored to six categories of “basic” personal information: citizenship, immigration status, address, phone number, date of birth and Medicaid ID. The Trump administration is only allowed to share Medicaid data about people unlawfully living in the United States, meaning ICE can’t access personal information collected from other immigrants receiving Medicaid. ICE and HHS remain barred from sharing personal health records and other potentially sensitive medical information for immigration enforcement under a preliminary injunction.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/29/trump-admin-can-share-immigrants-medicaid-data-ice-judge-rules-00707716