President Trump’s administration has ordered Medicaid to hand over the personal data of suspected undocumented immigrants to officials carrying out his mass deportation push as activists gear up for Saturday’s planned nationwide protests against his crackdown.
Top advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the details of millions of Medicaid recipients be given to the Department of Homeland Security — including names, addresses and health information — according to Associated Press, who reviewed Medicaid officials’ email correspondence on the matter.
Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who initially resisted the unusual order violating privacy rules, were given less than an hour to comply with the directive.
A Health and Human Services Department spokesman confirmed the data sharing, but declined to explain how it would be used.
“HHS acted … in full compliance with all applicable laws to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them,” said HHS communications director Andrew Nixon.
The data includes the information of people living in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington, D.C., all of which allow non-U.S. citizens to enroll in Medicaid programs that pay for their expenses using only state or local tax dollars.
The data dump comes as Trump ramps up an aggressive effort to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, prompting protests that have erupted in Los Angeles and elsewhere.
The office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has clashed with Trump over the crackdown, said the disclosure raises serious privacy concerns for citizens as well as both legal residents and undocumented immigrants.
Besides helping authorities find, detain and deport undocumented immigrants, the feds could use the information to scuttle the hopes of migrants seeking green cards, permanent residency or citizenship if they improperly obtained federally funded benefits.
Health officials announced late last month that they were reviewing some states’ Medicaid enrollees to ensure federal funds have not been used to pay for coverage for people with “unsatisfactory immigration status.”
The Medicaid effort sparked pushback from career officials, who initially said that federal law bars disclosure of personal data of recipients to any other agencies including immigration officials. But they caved and handed over the sensitive data.
Protests against Trump’s immigration policies continue to spread ahead of planned rallies in an estimated 2,000 cities worldwide, including New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C..
Demonstrators took to the streets last weekend in Los Angeles after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents launched new crackdowns in Los Angeles, including targeting parking lots of home improvement stores where workers gather to seek work as day laborers.
Trump has ordered the National Guard and Marines to help quell the protests, although a federal judge ruled that move was illegal. An appeals court put the ruling on hold until a hearing set for Tuesday.
The day of protests on Saturday will take place around the same time as Trump presides over a $45 million military parade in Washington, D.C. that coincides with his 79th birthday.
With News Wire Service
