A federal judge just handed President Trump a clear legal win, and predictably, blue state officials are melting down. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that the Trump administration can resume sharing basic identifying and location data from Medicaid enrollees with Immigration and Customs Enforcement starting January 6. Translation, immigration law is allowed to be enforced again.
The ruling clears the way for ICE to use Medicaid data in deportation cases involving people unlawfully living in the United States. This practice had been frozen for months after a coalition of Democrat attorneys general sued to block it, arguing that enforcing immigration law might discourage people who should not be here in the first place from signing up for taxpayer funded benefits. Judge Chhabria was not impressed.
“The sharing of such information is clearly authorized by law,” Chhabria wrote, adding that federal agencies adequately explained their decision. That sentence alone demolishes the narrative that this was some rogue or unlawful scheme. It was legal all along, just politically inconvenient for Democrats who have turned public benefits into magnets for illegal immigration.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 21 other Democrat AGs brought the lawsuit after reports surfaced that the Department of Health and Human Services was sharing enrollment data with the Department of Homeland Security. Their argument boiled down to this, people enrolled believing their data would only be used to provide care. What they left out is that the people at issue are not legally eligible for federal Medicaid in the first place.
That distinction matters. Undocumented immigrants do not qualify for federal Medicaid. States like California, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon chose to create state funded programs that mirror Medicaid and then plugged those enrollees into federal systems. That decision does not magically erase immigration law.
Judge Chhabria’s order is narrow and disciplined. ICE may only access six categories of basic information, citizenship, immigration status, address, phone number, date of birth, and Medicaid ID number. Medical records and sensitive health data remain off limits, and the judge kept a separate block in place preventing that kind of information sharing. This is about identity and location, not doctor visits.
The ruling applies only to people unlawfully present in the country. Legal immigrants receiving benefits are explicitly protected. Despite the hysteria, this is not a dragnet, it is enforcement of existing law.
A DHS spokesperson called the decision a victory for the rule of law and American taxpayers, and that is exactly what it is. Courts have blocked attempts to tap into tax returns and food assistance databases, but this case was different because the law actually supports the administration’s position.
President Trump ran on enforcing immigration law, and judges are increasingly acknowledging that doing so is not extremist, it is literally the job. This ruling stands until a final decision is issued, but the signal is already clear. Using government databases to shield illegal residency was never sustainable. Accountability is slowly returning, whether blue state politicians like it or not.
Leave a Comment