Trump admin hands Medicaid membership data to ICE to facilitate removing illegal migrants

The Trump administration recently granted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials access to Medicaid enrollee data in an effort to help identify illegal immigrants receiving taxpayer-funded benefits.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) signed the agreement Monday, according to a report from The Associated Press.

The agreement allows ICE to collect names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers to help locate and identify illegal immigrants. 

“ICE will use the CMS data to allow ICE to receive identity and location information on aliens identified by ICE,” the agreement states, according to AP.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told FOX News the initiative fulfills President Donald Trump’s promise to “protect Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries.” 

“To keep that promise after Joe Biden flooded our country with tens of millions of illegal aliens,” she said, “CMS and DHS are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans.”

According to FOX News, the Medicaid database includes more than 71 million enrollees as of March 2025. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that at least 1.4 million enrollees do not meet legal immigration or citizenship requirements for eligibility.

The new data-sharing agreement restricts ICE’s access to a narrow scope. 

Officials can only access the database during standard work hours — Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. — and are prohibited from downloading the information, AP reported. The access is set to expire Sept. 9.