ICE, HHS Still Limited in Medicaid Info Exchange via Court Order

The Trump administration’s health department is temporarily blocked from sharing certain Medicaid information with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a federal judge called the related federal policies “totally unclear” and apparently not “the product of a coherent decisionmaking process.”

Monday’s order from Judge Vince Chhabria of US District Court for the Northern District of California comes in a legal battle between states and the federal government over the use of state Medicaid data for immigration enforcement.

In Chhabria’s view, it’s “an open question” whether federal policies greenlight the US Department of Health and Human Services to share “sensitive medical information about Medicaid patients” with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.

That’s “information that’s difficult to imagine the agency needing for any legitimate purpose,” Chhabria wrote.

Earlier this year, a group of states sued the Trump administration for sharing personal health data with DHS for immigration enforcement. Chhabria later blocked the DHS and the HHS from sharing the data, calling on the departments to complete “a reasoned decisionmaking process.”

The HHS for its part put out a notice laying out how it would give ICE certain information within the bounds of federal law, while ICE issued a memo as well.

Neither, however, addresses “why a more narrowly tailored policy” wouldn’t suffice for immigration enforcement purposes, Chhabria said.

Chhabria’s Monday preliminary injunction says it remains unclear whether the DHS can get from the HHS “any information relevant to any proceedings beyond criminal immigration investigations or civil enforcement actions.”

He also noted that it’s unclear “whether DHS may request any data from HHS about citizens or lawful permanent residents, including members of mixed-status households.”

The order isn’t entirely a win for the states Chhabria denied the states’ motion “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 agencies have adequately explained their decisions.”

He also noted that while the litigation plays out, the HHS can share Medicaid information pertinent “only to aliens who are not lawfully residing in the United States” and that “divulges only those aliens’ citizenship and immigration status, address, phone number, date of birth, and Medicaid ID.”

The case is California v. HHS, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-05536, preliminary injunction 12/29/25.