HHS must suspend all Medicaid data transfers to ICE and DHS pending a comprehensive review of HHS’s controls and the court’s continuing oversight.
Press HHS, CMS, DHS, and ICE to halt Medicaid data transfers to immigration enforcement pending a comprehensive review of data controls and continued court oversight.
Occurrences
Evidence
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Markey's office says he and colleagues wrote to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin demanding that HHS and DHS immediately stop unlawful Medicaid data transfers to DHS and ICE. The release says the HHS/CMS letter concluded that HHS must suspend all Medicaid data transfers to ICE and DHS pending a comprehensive review of controls and the court's continuing oversight, and the DHS letter made the parallel demand that DHS stop receiving transfers. Answers were requested by September 4, 2026.
legacy_unverified · Source version not recorded · locator unknown
Law360 reported on September 9, 2026 that a federal judge in California ordered the 22 plaintiff states and the Trump administration to reach agreement on the proper scope of an injunction limiting Medicaid data use for immigration enforcement, including uncertainty about people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status.
Assessments
The promise was framed as an oversight action: to press HHS, CMS, DHS, and ICE to halt Medicaid data transfers pending review and court oversight. In August 2026, while Markey was serving in the same Senate term, his office documented that he and colleagues sent letters to HHS/CMS and DHS demanding exactly that. The later court activity shows the underlying agency and litigation issue remained unresolved, but it does not negate fulfillment of the narrower promise to press the agencies.