The Trump administration can resume sharing some Medicaid patients' data with immigration authorities, a federal judge ruled on Dec. 29, delivering a win for the White House's aggressive deportation efforts.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in California said in his ruling that the federal government can legally share "basic biographical, location, and contact information" with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ruling will take effect on Jan. 6, according to court documents.
The development comes months after 20 states, including California, sued in July to prevent the federal government from sharing with ICE data obtained by the Department of Health and Human Services about immigrants receiving Medicaid benefits.
"We are disappointed in the court’s decision allowing for the sharing of some Medicaid data with ICE," said a statement from the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, one of the nearly two dozen Democratic officials who sued to block the information-sharing effort.
Chhabria noted in his ruling that while basic Medicaid information can be shared with ICE, the injunction still applies to other information, including data about immigrants legally in the country.
