Calif AG Bonta Sues HHS, DHS for Handing Over Illegal Immigrants’ Medicaid Info to ICE

Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Tuesday that California, along with 19 other states, filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) decision to provide access to individual personal health data to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The data transfer took place in mid-June, with two advisors to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. overseeing the dataset going to the DHS. Specifically the data included information on Medicaid enrollees in California, Illinois, Washington State and the District of Columbia. Those three states and the district allow non-U. S. citizens to enroll in Medicaid programs, with the data including the immigration status of millions of enrollees. As the DHS now has the information, many worried that the information could then be shared with ICE internally in the department, thus giving them information on where many illegal immigrants live.

Many swiftly challenged this as a privacy issue, saying that the information would likely be improperly used as a result.

“We deeply value the privacy of all Californians,” said Governor Gavin Newsom in June. “This potential data transfer brought to our attention by the AP is extremely concerning, and if true, potentially unlawful, particularly given numerous headlines highlighting potential improper federal use of personal information and federal actions to target the personal information of Americans.”

The DHS defended their position in turn, saying that the transfer was done legally and that it would ensure that they were looking into a program to keep Medicaid benefits for Americans and not illegal immigrants.

“President Trump promised to protect Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries,” explained DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “To keep that promise after Joe Biden flooded our country with tens of millions of illegal aliens, CMS and DHS are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans. The data was given to the DHS to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them.”

Twenty states sue the DHS, HHS

Twenty states, including California, subsequently vowed legal action against them. This came to fruition on Tuesday when Bonta, along with the Attorneys General of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington state, sued the federal government over the matter. In the California v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the AGs argued that Congress extended coverage and federal funds for emergency Medicaid to all individuals residing in the United States, with immigration status not being a cut off point.

“In today’s lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition highlight that the Trump Administration’s illegal actions are creating fear and confusion that will lead noncitizens and their family members to disenroll, or refuse to enroll, in emergency Medicaid for which they are otherwise eligible, leaving states and their safety net hospitals to foot the bill for federally mandated emergency healthcare services,” said Bonta’s office. “They may not get the emergency health services they need and will suffer negative health consequences — and even death — as a result. The coalition asks that the court find the Trump Administration’s actions arbitrary and capricious and rulemaking without proper procedure in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, the Social Security Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Federal Information Security Modernization Act, and the Spending Clause. They ask the court to enjoin HHS from transferring personally identifiable Medicaid data to DHS or any other federal agency and DHS from using this data to conduct immigration enforcement.”

In addition, the suit goes on to ask the court to halt the HHS from sharing any Medicaid data with other federal agencies and stopping any info to be used for immigration enforcement or surveillance. It also asks the court to have all transferred Medicaid data to the DHS to be gathered and destroyed.

“The Trump Administration has upended longstanding privacy protections with its decision to illegally share sensitive, personal health data with ICE. In doing so, it has created a culture of fear that will lead to fewer people seeking vital emergency medical care,” said Attorney General Bonta. “I’m sickened by this latest salvo in the President’s anti-immigrant campaign. We’re headed to court to prevent any further sharing of Medicaid data — and to ensure any of the data that’s already been shared is not used for immigration enforcement purposes.

“This is about flouting seven decades of federal law policy and practice that have made it clear that personal healthcare data is confidential and can only be shared in certain narrow circumstances that benefit the public’s health or the Medicaid program.”

“Washington residents expect that the confidential information they give to the government to access medical treatment will only be used for healthcare purposes,” added Washington Attorney General Nick Brown. “Their data should not go towards creating a giant database of Americans’ personal information or used so that ICE can deport undocumented immigrants because they had to go to the doctor.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the DHS  has yet to formally respond to the suit, with the HHS only commenting that it doesn’t comment on current litigation. However, they are expected to heavily defend their actions in court, with past statements by the department on the matter saying that it protected American tax dollars and was all done legally to the letter of the law.

“The data transfer was legal, and the CMS is aggressively cracking down on states that may be misusing federal Medicaid funds to subsidize care for illegal immigrants,” explained HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon. “This oversight effort — supported by lawful interagency data sharing with DHS — is focused on identifying waste, fraud, and systemic abuse. We are not only protecting taxpayer dollars — we are restoring credibility to one of America’s most vital programs.”

Bonta’s Medicaid lawsuit is only the latest of the numerous lawsuits California has filed against the Trump administration. However, the federal government has also filed lawsuits against California including the DOJ suing Orange County over alleged withholding of noncitizen voting records, the DOJ suing Los Angeles over their Sanctuary City policy, and Governor Newsom suing the federal Government for calling up National Guard troops without his ok.

More on the suit is expected soon.