President Donald Trump’s deputies have completed a data-sharing deal to let ICE agents use government Medicaid data while enforcing the nation’s popular immigration laws, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Under a new agreement, “ICE will use the CMS [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] data to allow ICE to receive identity and location information on aliens identified by ICE,” the agreement says,” the AP reported Thursday, adding:
The department’s assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, said in an emailed statement that the two agencies “are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans.”
Millions of illegal migrants have shared their identities and addresses to use the taxpayer-funded Medicaid system, often via emergency rooms and state-funded clinics.
The data is not being copied to ICE. Instead, ICE will be allowed to verify identities and addresses during regular work hours.
The information-sharing deal reflects the determination of Trump’s deputies to remove a myriad bureaucratic and regulatory barriers to the enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws.
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