U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled Sept. 3 that federal immigration authorities cannot access Medicaid data belonging to immigrants who hold valid, nonexpired visas, Courthouse News reported Sept. 3.
The ruling, issued in the Northern District of California, clarifies the scope of a December 2025 injunction restricting how HHS and DHS share Medicaid enrollees’ personal information with ICE.
The case stems from a lawsuit California and other states filed in July 2025 to block an ICE policy memo that rescinded a 2019 rule barring the use of healthcare data for immigration enforcement. A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in August 2025, followed by the broader injunction in December.
At the Sept. 3 hearing, Mr. Chhabria said he was skeptical about allowing ICE to access Medicaid data belonging to DACA recipients and holders of Temporary Protected Status, and directed the parties to craft an agreement protecting people who are lawfully, if temporarily, in the country. “I don’t understand the magic of permanently in that context,” Mr. Chhabria said, according to the report. “They are here lawfully.”
Anna Rich, an attorney with the California Department of Justice, argued during the hearing that HHS and DHS had defined the pool of people whose data could be shared too broadly. “It is not reasonable to say all of those people can have their Medicaid data shared,” Ms. Rich said.
The dispute centers on Medicaid enrollees’ citizenship status, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and Medicaid ID numbers — data points health systems and state Medicaid agencies rely on to administer coverage and that now carry direct implications for immigration enforcement.
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