New Mexican’s personal data may be getting into the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement following a judge’s ruling in December.
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services confirmed they’re sharing some information with the Department of Homeland Security and the New Mexico Healthcare Authority told KUNM it does openly share New Mexican’s information with CMS as required by federal law.
That could mean ICE getting access to information like addresses, immigration status, phone numbers and more. But according to Alanna Dancis, acting Medicaid director for New Mexico, some of this information is not collected.
“We do not share documentation status though,” she said. “It's not part of how we ask questions in enrollment.”
But with escalating ICE presence around the country and increasingly violent tactics being used to arrest folks, even immigrants with legal status in New Mexico might be worried about ICE accessing their data.
Sovereign Hager, public benefits director for New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty said data sharing in New Mexico is limited, and should not be an issue.
She said ICE or DHS shouldn’t be getting granular immigration data through Medicaid on undocumented immigrants since they don’t qualify. Though she does say people without legal status could qualify for emergency Medicaid, but that information is limited.
“The only information that's provided,” Hager said, “is that they're not in one of the special statuses that qualify,”
With racial profiling being affirmed as a tactic being used and over 100 U.S. citizens being detained by ICE last year, people of color universally are scared.
“I don't want to overstate that everyone is safe,” she said. “Because there's so much we don't know about what the federal government is doing and what's happening these days.”
Under the current administration, the lines on traditional laws around immigration detention have blurred. Hager and others are worried about the "chilling effect” that could have.
“When we have this type of data sharing, one that's a violation of privacy and other aspects of federal law, but it also sort of infringes on that public health purpose of the program and causes people not to seek health care,” Hager said, “which in turn puts all of our communities kind of at risk.”
Regardless, Dancis said no one should be afraid to go to the doctor
“I would not encourage anyone to make any changes in their access to health care based on this situation with data sharing,” Dancis said.
Despite the judge’s ruling, there’s still an active lawsuit by attorneys general in 22 states, including New Mexico, to stop the practice.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
