The Trump administration has given the home addresses, social security numbers and birthdays of every Medicaid enrollee to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials as of July 17, 2025.
California’s lawmakers were outraged as many were made aware that the Trump administration had initiated sharing important Medicaid data with DHS officials in early June.
It was found that the exchange of information gave DHS the immigration status of Medicaid patients along with numerous, highly-personal details.
Experts told the AP that “the government could also use the information to scuttle the hopes of migrants seeking green cards, permanent residency or citizenship if they had ever obtained Medicaid benefits funded by the federal government.”
In Orange County, agencies have given similar statements and aid to affected individuals.
The Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs of the Social Services Agency of Orange County posted a statement on their website as follows: “This data, provided for the purpose of administering healthcare, may now be used to locate individuals for immigration enforcement or to challenge their future immigration applications. Experts warn this could include green card or naturalization denials due to past Medicaid use.”
In a move against the perceived overstep by the federal government, California and 19 other states have filed a lawsuit directed at the Trump administration.
“The Trump Administration has upended longstanding privacy protections,” stated California Attorney General Rob Bonta on July 1. Bonta said, “We’re headed to court to prevent any further sharing of Medicaid data — and to ensure any of the data that’s already been shared is not used for immigration enforcement purposes.”
As of yet, only California, Washington, Illinois and Washington, D.C. have provided this data. The lawsuit demands the federal government cease using the data for surveillance and immigration enforcement.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has gained new funding from the administration, and looks set to continue growing its presence.
DHS — of which ICE is the investigative branch — will collect a large portion of the $170 billion set to uphold Trump’s immigration plan over the next four years.
In California, thousands have taken to the streets in protest of these changes.
Last month, a “No Kings Day” demonstration took place in Long Beach, Calif., corresponding with similar protests nationwide. They responded to repeated ICE raids, Trump’s recent policies and the National Guard’s presence in Los Angeles.
The National Immigration Law Center states “ICE and CBP’s power to enforce immigration law is limited by our constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure. Under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the permissibility of a search depends on whether a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the area searched.”
The Orange County Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA) reminds that emergency services remain available, and urges those who are directly impacted to contact legal services.
“And we know that when the community members are fearful about that … like, for example, the children are citizens, but the parents do not have satisfactory immigration status, we know that they’re facing difficult decision as to whether they want to go through the process and continue receiving the services that they need for their families,” An Tran, Director of the OIRA’s Social Service Agency, told New University.
Aidan Wyrough is a Features Intern for the summer 2025 quarter. He can be reached at awyrough@uci.edu.
Edited by Avery Rosas, Annabelle Aguirre