Latino Organizations Condemn Medicaid Data-Sharing Agreement With ICE
ICE raids in the U.S., 2025. X/ @ramrahuljain45
July 18, 2025 Hour: 11:42 am
UnidosUS and Voto Latino warned that personal data of 79 million people could be used for raids and deportations.
The organizations “UnidosUS” and “Voto Latino” condemned an agreement between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to share the personal data of 79 million users with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), warning that the information could be used for raids and deportations.
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The data shared with ICE pertains to Medicaid beneficiaries, a federal and state program that provides health coverage to low-income individuals. That information includes addresses and other confidential data that immigration agents could use to conduct enforcement operations.
“Sharing Medicaid data with ICE is a violation of trust and privacy. Nearly 80 million Americans could be affected. This move weaponizes health care. Many working families will avoid Medicaid for fear of exposing themselves to ICE,” UnidosUS said in a statement.
The organization warned that the agreement could lead some families to opt out of the program due to fear of data exposure, leaving thousands of children across the country without health coverage. UnidosUS also called on Congress to halt the measure in order to protect families and ensure health care access for all communities.
Approximately 26.8 million Latinos are enrolled in Medicaid, a program established in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Voto Latino noted that figure while calling the data-sharing agreement with ICE “an unprecedented breach of public trust” and said it raises “serious concerns” about immigration agents’ intentions in accessing such data.
“The use of health care data as a tool for immigration enforcement is a blatant abuse of power and an alarming escalation of the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on immigrants,” the group stated, adding that more than 50% of Latino children receive health coverage through Medicaid.
The agreement with ICE comes amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing campaign against undocumented immigrants in the United States, which has resulted in the arrest and deportation of thousands of people.
His administration has suspended immigration programs that granted legal status to hundreds of thousands of migrants, such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and humanitarian parole, leaving many recipients in limbo and forcing them either to leave a country they entered legally or to go into hiding to avoid deportation.
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Sources: UnidosUS – EFE
