Coalition of states sue to block mass transfer of Medicaid enrollee data to ICE
July 1, 2025 (DENVER) – Attorney General Phil Weiser today joined a multistate coalition in filing a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to provide unrestricted access to individual personal health data to the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In today’s lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the attorneys general 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 personal healthcare data collected about Medicaid beneficiaries is confidential, to be shared only in narrow circumstances that benefit public health and the integrity of the Medicaid program,” said Attorney General Weiser. “There’s no reason to share this sensitive data with immigration or law enforcement agencies. We’re suing to protect Colorado’s Medicaid program and the health and welfare of the people it serves.”
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, states learned through news reports that HHS has transferred 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, the coalition highlights 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.
The coalition asks that the court find the Trump administration’s actions arbitrary and capricious and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, contrary to the Social Security Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Federal Information Security Modernization Act, and Privacy Act, and in violation of the Spending Clause. The coalition also asks the court to prohibit HHS from transferring personally identifiable Medicaid data to DHS or any other federal agency and block DHS from using this data to conduct immigration enforcement.
In filing the lawsuit, Attorney General Weiser joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
Read the lawsuit to block HHS from sharing Medicaid data with ICE (PDF).
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Media Contact:
Lawrence Pacheco
Chief Communications Officer
(720) 508-6553 office
lawrence.pacheco@coag.gov