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ICE has no place in healthcare.
Your health data has no place at ICE.
Keep ICE out of Medicaid.
In June, ICE entered into an agreement with the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) which provides ICE personnel with log-in credentials to access the federal database of Medicaid records, called the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS), which contains the personal information and health records of almost 80 million Americans. It will use the database to identify and track down immigrant patients. The T-MSIS collects patient medical and billing data from the Medicaid agencies of each state.
Only certain immigrant groups are eligible to receive Medicaid coverage. These include:
Green card holders
Asylees and refugees
Parolees
Victims of domestic violence or human trafficking
Those granted a withholding of deportation
Patient privacy and immigrant rights advocates are concerned that immigrants, especially those with Medicaid coverage, will avoid medical care out of fear that their personal information will be shared with ICE and used to target them for arrest and detention.
ICE can view the personal health data of anyone with Medicaid coverage. This is a breach of privacy policy that undermines the health of working class people nationwide—both immigrants and non-immigrants alike.
Contact your elected representatives and urge them to stop CMS from sharing your personal health information with ICE.
Find your elected representatives and their contact information below. Fill out the letter template, copy, and send to your representatives.
For emails, use the provided subject line.
Dear ,
I am writing as a concerned constituent to urge you to take immediate action to stop the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from sharing Medicaid patient data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through the Medicaid Statistical Information System (MSIS) database.
The MSIS database contains the deeply sensitive personal and medical information—including names, addresses, birth dates, Social Security numbers, and health details—of almost 80 million Medicaid recipients. Sharing this information with ICE undermines the trust and privacy of patients, jeopardizes the health and safety of immigrant communities, and erodes the integrity of our healthcare system.
This practice raises three serious concerns:
- Patient Privacy: Medicaid recipients, like all patients, have a right to expect that their medical and personal information will be kept confidential. Sharing such data with immigration enforcement agencies risks violating privacy protections, including those enshrined in HIPAA.
- Protection of Immigrant Communities: When patients fear that seeking medical care could expose them or their families to immigration enforcement, they are far less likely to access necessary healthcare. This fear directly harms immigrants—documented and undocumented alike—and drives vulnerable individuals into the shadows.
- Public Health Impact: Medicaid exists to ensure that low-income individuals, children, seniors, and people with disabilities can access healthcare. If trust in Medicaid is compromised, entire communities may forgo care, amplifying preventable illness, raising healthcare costs, and widening disparities.
I respectfully urge you to:
- Introduce or support legislation prohibiting CMS from sharing Medicaid patient data with ICE.
- Call for immediate oversight hearings to investigate current data-sharing practices.
- Work with federal agencies to ensure that public health data is never used for immigration enforcement purposes.
Access to healthcare is a fundamental human right, and any policy that limits accessibility—especially by way of intimidation and in service of repression—is morally objectionable and demands immediate reform. By taking action now, you can help safeguard both the privacy of patients and the health of our most vulnerable neighbors.
Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your commitment to protecting the rights and well-being of all members of our community. I look forward to your response and to seeing strong action taken on this urgent issue.
Sincerely,
Your letter
Twenty states are suing the Department of Health and Human Services over its decision to share T-MSIS access with ICE.
Here’s a map of the states involved in the lawsuit.
What they want
In their lawsuit, the states made the following demands:
HHS to stop sharing Medicaid data with any other federal agency
DHS and the rest of the federal government not to use Medicaid data for immigration enforcement or surveillance
All Medicaid records and their copies possessed by DHS to be impounded and destroyed
