JUST IN: Federal Judge Issues Pivotal Ruling For Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda

A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration can resume sharing location and basic identifying data about undocumented immigrants enrolled in public health insurance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement starting next month.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said the administration may begin using Medicaid data in deportation cases on Jan. 6, handing President Donald Trump a win as he presses ahead with his mass-deportation agenda. The practice had been blocked for months after Democratic-led states sued to stop it.

“The sharing of such information is clearly authorized by law and the agencies have adequately explained their decisions,” Chhabria wrote in a seven-page order.

The ruling is a setback for California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 21 other Democratic attorneys general who sued in July to block the Trump administration from using Medicaid data obtained from the Department of Health and Human Services for immigration enforcement.

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A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice said enrollees joined the state’s health care program believing their information would only be used to provide care.

“The Trump Administration’s effort to use Medicaid data for immigration enforcement is a violation of their trust and will lead to fewer people seeking vital healthcare,” the spokesperson said.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal Medicaid. However, California and other blue states, including Illinois, Colorado, New York, Washington, Oregon and Minnesota, along with Washington, D.C., allow certain residents to receive state-funded benefits through their Medicaid programs regardless of immigration status.

Chhabria’s order limits data sharing to six categories of what he called basic personal information: citizenship, immigration status, address, phone number, date of birth and Medicaid identification number.

The ruling only applies to people unlawfully living in the United States. ICE is barred from accessing personal data tied to other immigrants who receive Medicaid benefits.

The judge kept in place a separate block preventing ICE and HHS from sharing medical records or other sensitive health information for immigration enforcement. He said the agencies failed to justify the exchange of that data and agreed with states that such a move could violate health privacy laws.

“Beyond the basic information discussed above, the policies are totally unclear and do not appear to be the product of a coherent decisionmaking process,” Chhabria wrote.

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California sued after reports surfaced that HHS had been sharing personal data from undocumented Medicaid enrollees with immigration officials at the Department of Homeland Security.

Chhabria temporarily halted the practice in August but signaled that it could resume if the administration clarified its policies. That opening came after ICE and HHS published formal notices in November outlining how Medicaid data would be used in immigration cases.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin called the ruling “a victory for the rule of law and American taxpayers.”

Courts have been less receptive to the administration’s efforts to tap other federal databases. Judges have recently blocked attempts to share taxpayer records and food assistance data with immigration officials.

Chhabria’s order will stay in effect until a final ruling is issued in the case. It could be lifted sooner if ICE and HHS adopt new policies that provide a legal basis for collecting additional types of personal information.