Twenty U.S. states, led by California, have filed a lawsuit against the administration of former President Donald Trump, accusing it of illegally sharing Medicaid recipients’ personal health data with immigration enforcement agencies.
The 59-page lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Named as defendants are Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and their respective departments.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, are challenging the decision to grant the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “unfettered access” to individuals’ health records.
The plaintiffs argue that this move violates privacy laws and disrupts longstanding practices that separate Medicaid information from law enforcement. They contend that the Trump administration’s actions have created fear and confusion among communities, causing noncitizens and their family members to disenroll from or avoid enrolling in emergency Medicaid. This could lead to patients being denied critical emergency healthcare, with potentially fatal consequences.
“The Trump administration has upended longstanding privacy protections with its decision to illegally share sensitive, personal health data with ICE,” said Attorney General Bonta. “In doing so, it has created a culture of fear that will lead to fewer people seeking vital emergency medical care. We’re heading to court to prevent any further sharing of Medicaid data.”
Medicaid is a crucial source of health insurance for lower-income individuals and underserved populations in the United States. As of January 2025, over 78 million people were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) nationwide. In California, the Medi-Cal program provides healthcare coverage for one out of every three residents, including more than two million noncitizens.
The lawsuit emphasizes that federal laws define personal healthcare data collected by Medicaid as confidential and only shareable under limited circumstances that serve public health or protect the integrity of the program. The plaintiffs argue that the mass transfer of such data between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the DHS is illegal.
There are also concerns that the federal government plans to create a sweeping database using the collected data for mass deportations and other large-scale immigration enforcement purposes. Dozens of Democratic members of Congress have sent letters to the involved agencies, demanding that data sharing cease and that Homeland Security destroy the information it has received so far.
