Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents now have access to the personal data of people enrolled in Medicaid. This includes home address and ethnicity. ICE hopes having this information will help track down undocumented individuals.

Access to the personal data of Medicaid’s nearly seventy-nine million enrolled beneficiaries represent is the latest escalation of the government’s immigration enforcement efforts. Some lawmakers have challenged the legality of the disclosure. Officials from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have also criticized the move.

Federal law requires all states to offer Medicaid to everyone, even non-citizens. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argues HHS officials are legally obligated to cooperate with other federal agencies for national security purposes. DHS argues the number of undocumented migrants using Medicaid takes resources away from individuals lawfully entitled to them.

Access to the Medicaid database gives ICE information about enrollees. However, ICE doesn’t have unlimited access. Agents can only access the database from nine a.m. to five p.m., Monday to Friday, until September 9, 2025.

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