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Federal judge allows sharing of immigrant Medicaid data with ICESAN FRANCISCO—A federal judge ruled Monday that states must share basic personal information, including citizenship status, about undocumented immigrants enrolled in Medicaid with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation efforts, but barred the exchange of sensitive health records. The decision, issued by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, partially upholds a President Donald J Trump’s policy aimed at bolstering immigration enforcement while maintaining some privacy protections.
Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown announcing his lawsuit against HUD on Tuesday, November 25, 2025. Source: Office of the Washington State Attorney General.
“DHS and HHS have since released documents explaining their new proposed data-sharing policies,” Judge Chhabria wrote in his 28-page opinion affirming the federal government’s authority for the basic data exchange with states. “The States challenge those new policies in a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction. The motion is denied as to the data that is the primary focus of the new policies—basic biographical, location, and contact information—because the sharing of such information is clearly authorized by law and the [federal] agencies have adequately explained their decisions.”
He further noted that federal statutes permit interagency cooperation for law enforcement, including immigration matters, and dismissed most arguments from the states that the policy violated privacy laws like HIPAA or the Affordable Care Act.
'''Chhabria’s order reverses parts of an earlier block on the practice, which had been challenged by 20 states—including Washington state==—fearing it would deter immigrants, as part of a “vulnerable population,” from seeking medical care. He did, however, keep an injunction in place against sharing medical histories or other detailed health information.
The ruling allows the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide ICE with limited data, including citizenship status, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, immigration details and Medicaid IDs. This data sharing applies only to individuals unlawfully present in the United States and takes effect January 6, 2026, after a temporary injunction expires.
The case originated in July 2025 when Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown joined a coalition of attorneys general in suing the Trump administration over the alleged illegal transfer of Medicaid data to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accused federal officials of violating health privacy protections by handing over en masse files containing personal details of millions.
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