Twenty U.S. states sue Trump administration over personal data leak to immigration agency

California, leading a multistate coalition, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump over leaking citizens' personal information.

Charging the Trump administration with illegally sharing Medicaid recipients' health data with immigration enforcement agencies, the 59-page lawsuit document was filed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and their departments listed as defendants.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta led the state attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington in filing the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs challenged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) granting "unfettered access" to individuals' health records to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which houses the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), saying the decision violated privacy laws and longstanding practices separating Medicaid information from law enforcement.

The lawsuit further highlights that the Trump administration's actions have created fear and confusion among communities, leading noncitizens and their family members to disenroll from or avoid enrolling in emergency Medicaid. As a result, some patients may be denied critical emergency healthcare and could suffer fatal consequences.

"The Trump Administration has upended longstanding privacy protections with its decision to illegally share sensitive, personal health data with ICE. In doing so, it has created a culture of fear that will lead to fewer people seeking vital emergency medical care," Bonta said in a press release published by his office, noting that the lawsuit was aimed at ensuring Medicaid data would not be used for immigration enforcement purposes.

"I'm sickened by this latest salvo in the President's anti-immigrant campaign. We're headed to court to prevent any further sharing of Medicaid data," he said.

According to California's Department of Justice, Medicaid is an essential source of health insurance for lower-income individuals and particularly underserved population groups. As of January 2025, 78.4 million people were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program across the United States.

The Medicaid program allows each participating state to develop and administer its unique health plans. In California – the most populous state in the country – the Medi-Cal program, the state's version of Medicaid, provides healthcare coverage for one out of three residents, including more than 2 million noncitizens.

The lawsuit states that the Medicaid Act, enacted by Congress in 1965, along with other U.S. federal laws, defines personal healthcare data collected by the program as confidential and only shareable under limited circumstances that serve public health or protect the integrity of the Medicaid program. It argues that the mass transfer of such data between the HHS and the DHS is illegal. 

Moreover, it said reports indicated that the U.S. federal government plans to create a sweeping database after collecting data from the HHS to use for "mass deportations" and other large-scale immigration enforcement purposes.

Dozens of Democratic members of Congress, in both the House and Senate, have sent letters to the involved agencies, demanding that data sharing cease and that Homeland Security destroy the information it has received so far.

(With input from agencies)