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Administration Moves to Restart Sharing Medicaid Records with ICE; States Challenge in Court

The federal government has notified a court it plans to resume sharing Medicaid records from 22 states with ICE, including contact details and immigration-status information. California and 21 other states sued and secured a preliminary injunction; they will get another chance to challenge the move at a Dec. 9 hearing. CMS and ICE say their filings satisfy the court’s requirement for a reasoned decision-making process; state attorneys general say those notices are inadequate and warn of chilling effects on immigrant healthcare access.

04:28 AM, 11/22/2025Politics
Administration Moves to Restart Sharing Medicaid Records with ICE; States Challenge in Court

The federal government has notified a U.S. district court that it intends to resume sharing Medicaid recipient data from 22 states with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The data at issue include phone numbers, addresses and immigration-status information. States led by California have sued to block the transfers and secured a preliminary injunction earlier this year.

Background

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) filed a notice saying its submission, together with a Nov. 17 ICE memorandum, satisfies a court requirement that agencies undertake a "reasoned decision-making process" before resuming the transfers. CMS says the data-sharing is part of lawful interagency information exchanges aimed at identifying waste, fraud and systemic abuse in Medicaid programs.

Legal Challenge

California and 21 other states sued in July to halt the transfers. In August, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the use of Medicaid information for immigration enforcement, but he allowed that injunction to be lifted 14 days after the agencies completed an adequate decision-making process.

At a hearing, Justice Department attorney Michael Gerardi argued the agencies' filings meet the court-ordered standard. California Deputy Attorney General Anna Rich countered that the notices appear inadequate and do not reflect the reasoned process the court required.

Reactions and Stakes

State attorneys general, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, contend the transfers are unlawful and warn they could create a "culture of fear" that deters immigrants from seeking medical care. The Department of Health and Human Services defends the transfers as legally supported and focused on protecting program integrity.

Judge Chhabria suggested the government consider postponing any resumption of data-sharing until after the holidays "just to make everyone’s life easier," and asked the administration to consider that proposal.

Next Steps

The CMS notice is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Nov. 25; under the court’s prior order, the existing preliminary injunction will remain in effect for 14 days following that publication. A hearing to determine whether to extend the injunction is set for Dec. 9. In a separate but related legal development, a federal judge also temporarily barred the IRS from sharing tax information with immigration authorities in another case.

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