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California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sued HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for supplying Medicaid data to Homeland Security for immigration enforcement purposes. Michigan Attorney General Nessel has joined this suit on behalf of Michigan, fulfilling her commitment to the secret anti-Trump pact she joined in December.
This suit clearly demonstrates that Medicaid, a program intended to help America's poor, is being looted to provide scarce health care resources to illegal aliens:
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/CA%20v.%20HHS%2C%20Complaint%207.1.25.pdf
20 States Sue Trump Admin Over Release Of Private Medicaid Data To Homeland Security
Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times - July 2, 2025A coalition of 20 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on July 1, challenging its decision to hand over the personal data of some Medicaid enrollees to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The complaint, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, was filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California and alleges that the mass transfer of data violates federal health privacy protection laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as well as the Federal Information Security Modernization Act and the Privacy Act.
The attorneys general are asking the court to find that the administration’s transfer of Medicaid data was unauthorized and illegal under federal law, including the Administrative Procedure Act. They are seeking to block the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from making further transfers of such data to the DHS, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), or any other federal agency.
The attorneys general also asked the court to prevent any federal agency from using Medicaid data for immigration enforcement, population surveillance, or similar purposes, and to order the destruction of any data that has already been transferred.
“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,” Bonta said in a July 1 statement.
“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.”
As of January 2025, 78.4 million people were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) across the United States, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint notes that a certain amount of personal data is routinely exchanged between the states and the federal government for the purpose of verifying eligibility for Medicaid.
In June, California, Illinois, and Washington state learned that HHS had disclosed “en masse” private Medicaid files to DHS representing millions of individuals, according to the lawsuit.
All of those states allow illegal immigrants to enroll in Medicaid programs that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars.
The data was “personally identifiable, not anonymized or hashed, and it included Medicaid beneficiaries’ immigration status and addresses, among other details,” the complaint states.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit note that HHS said it handed over the massive amount of personal data to DHS “to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them.”
In May, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said his agency and DOGE had identified at least $14 billion in Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse, including individuals who wrongly enrolled in the program across multiple states.
The context in which the data was shared with ICE, however, “casts serious doubt on the government’s explanation for its actions,” the attorneys general wrote in their lawsuit.
They said the federal government is creating a large database for “’mass deportations’ and other large-scale immigration enforcement and mass surveillance purposes.”
“Plaintiffs bring this action to protect their State Medicaid programs, and to prevent them from being used in service of an anti-immigrant crusade, or other purposes unrelated to administration of those programs,” the suit states.
The states 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 have joined California in the lawsuit.
HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a statement last month that the department is “aggressively cracking down on states that may be misusing federal Medicaid funds.”
Nixon also said that the data sharing was legal.
“HHS acted entirely within its legal authority–and in full compliance with all applicable laws–to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them,” he said.
The Epoch Times reached out to the HHS and DHS for further comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
The California Attorney General's press release:
Attorney General Bonta Sues Trump Administration for Illegally Sharing Californians’ Personal Health Data with ICE
Press Release - Tuesday, July 1, 2025OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, leading a multistate coalition, filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) decision to provide unfettered access to individual personal health data to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In the seven decades since Congress enacted the Medicaid Act to provide medical assistance to vulnerable populations, federal law, policy, and practice has been clear: the personal healthcare data collected about beneficiaries of the program is confidential, to be shared only in certain narrow circumstances that benefit public health and the integrity of the Medicaid program itself. In today’s lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that the mass transfer of this data violates the law and ask the court to block any new transfer or use of this data for immigration enforcement purposes.
“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.”
Created in 1965, Medicaid is an essential source of health insurance for lower-income individuals and particular underserved population groups, including children, pregnant women, individuals with disabilities, and seniors. The Medicaid program allows each participating state to develop and administer its own unique health plans; states must meet threshold federal statutory criteria, but they can tailor their plans’ eligibility standards and coverage options to residents’ needs. As of January 2025, 78.4 million people were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) nationwide.
California’s Medi-Cal program provides healthcare coverage for one out of every three Californians, including more than two million noncitizens. Noncitizens include green card holders, refugees, individuals who hold temporary protected status, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients, and others. Not all noncitizens are eligible for federally funded Medi-Cal services, and so California uses state-only funds to provide a version of the Medi-Cal program to all eligible state residents, regardless of their immigration status.
A certain amount of personal data is routinely exchanged between the states and the federal government for purposes of administering Medicaid, including verifying eligibility for federal funding. Historically, DHS has acknowledged that the Medicaid Act and other federal healthcare authorities foreclose the use of Medicaid personal information for immigration enforcement purposes. Yet now, the federal government appears to have — without formal acknowledgment — adopted a new policy that allows for the wholesale disclosure and use of state residents’ personal Medicaid data for purposes unrelated to Medicaid program administration. On June 13, 2025, California and other states learned through news reports that HHS has transferred en masse their state’s Medicaid data files, containing personal health records representing millions of individuals, to DHS. Reports indicate that the federal government plans to create a sweeping database for “mass deportations” and other large-scale immigration enforcement purposes.
The federal government claims it gave this data to DHS “to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them.” But it is Congress that extended coverage and federal funds for emergency Medicaid to all individuals residing in the United States, regardless of immigration status. The states have and will continue to cooperate with federal oversight activities to ensure that the federal government pays only for those Medicaid services that are legally authorized.
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. 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, contrary to the Social Security Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Federal Information Security Modernization Act, and Privacy Act, and in violation of 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.
Attorney General Bonta leads 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 Washinton in filing the lawsuit.
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