Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark joined a multistate coalition on March 27 in asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to enforce its preliminary injunction that blocks U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from obtaining and using Medicaid recipients’ data who are lawfully residing in the United States.
The coalition said recent communications with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) indicate that HHS shared “a large and complex data set” of Medicaid recipient information with ICE, despite a court ruling stating that much of this data, including that belonging to citizens and lawful permanent residents, is “off limits.” The exact contents of the shared data set remain unclear. The coalition’s motion also asks the court to confirm its original order covers all individuals lawfully residing in the country, and to require federal officials to explain what information has been transferred and how it is being used by ICE.
Medicaid was established in 1965 as a key health insurance program for lower-income people as well as underserved groups such as children, pregnant women, individuals with disabilities, and seniors. Each state develops its own health plans under federal guidelines but can tailor eligibility standards according to local needs. As of January 2025, enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program stood at 78.4 million nationwide.
The lawsuit against the Trump Administration was filed by this coalition on July 1, 2025. It argued that HHS’s transfer of Medicaid data to ICE violated legal protections for sensitive health information. The suit claimed these actions caused fear among noncitizens or their family members about enrolling in emergency Medicaid services for which they qualify, potentially shifting costs onto states or safety net hospitals required by federal mandate to provide emergency care.
While a limited preliminary injunction allowed some transfers under certain conditions, it blocked broader efforts by ICE to obtain sensitive health records belonging not only to citizens but also lawful permanent residents and others legally present in the country from other Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services programs.
Clark joins attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York Oregon Rhode Island Washington Wisconsin as well as Kentucky’s governor in this motion.
