Immigration and customs law enforcement officers are obtaining personal data from nearly 80 million Medicaid personnel to obtain “information about the identification and location of foreigners in the United States,” according to a Wired information exchange agreement.
The agreement, titled “Agreement between the Medicare and Medicaid Services Center and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Disclosure of Identity and Location Information of Aliens”, was signed by CMS officials on Tuesday and signed by AP News.
Under the agreement, ICE officials will obtain a login certificate from the Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) database center containing sensitive medical information, including detailed records of diagnosis and procedures. The language in the protocol is represented, which will allow ICE to access personal information such as home address, phone number, IP address, bank data and social security numbers. (After the agreement, the definition of ice allowed to access is different, specifying only “Medicaid Recipients” as well as their gender, race and race, but waived references to IP or bank data.) The agreement is scheduled to last for two months. The date of the document is July 9 and is valid only when both parties sign it, indicating a 60-day span from July 15 to September 15.
The move comes as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to expand its crackdown on immigration. According to ICE, the government’s goal is to deport 3,000 people per day, four deportations in the fiscal year 2024. Its plan to do so seems to involve vacuuming data from all over the government. Wired has previously reported that the so-called Ministry of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and DHS are studying the master database to obtain data from DHS and other agencies to monitor and deport immigrants.
Medicaid, state and federally funded, the poorest healthcare coverage in the country only applies to some non-citizens, including refugees and asylum seekers, survivors of trafficking, and permanent residents. Some states, such as New York, provide Medicaid for children and pregnant women regardless of their immigration status. States report their Medicaid spending and data to the federal government, which reimburses them some of the costs.
“That’s never even considered during my five years at the DHS,” said John Sandweg, acting director of ICE during the administration of Barack Obama. “You want to be cautious about possible creepy effects, under which people who may apply for benefits and qualify for benefits or seek emergency medical care because they are concerned that the information they provide in the hospital may make them the target of immigration action.”
A spokesman told Wired that this is not the government’s attention now. “Under the doctoral leadership [Mehmet] Oz, CMS is actively combating countries that may be misusing federal Medicaid funds to subsidize illegal immigration,” Andrew Nixon, director of communications at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), told Cable. “This oversight effort – a shared effort by lawful data with DHS, aims to abuse with DHS – works to identify efforts to businesses and waste dangers. We are not only protecting taxpayers’ money, but also restoring the credibility of one of the most important programs in the United States. The American people should be responsible. HHS is delivering it. ”
