Judge rules basic Medicaid data can be shared with ICE

A federal judge in California ruled Monday that the federal government is allowed to share basic information about Medicaid participants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid a government push to locate people it believes are in the country unlawfully

A federal judge in California ruled Monday that the federal government is allowed to share basic information about Medicaid participants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid a government push to locate people it believes are in the country unlawfully.

The plan to share information from the federally backed program had been blocked by a preliminary injunction that applied to 20 states that sued, including California.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria partly denied the states' request for a preliminary injunction Monday, writing that “basic biographical, location, and contact information” is legal under the law.

But he also granted the injunction as it pertains to any information beyond that.

“We are disappointed in the court’s decision allowing for the sharing of some Medicaid data with ICE,” the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Monday.