ICE Shared Medicaid Data with Palantir, Court Filings Reveal

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shared improperly obtained Medicaid data on millions of people with the data analytics firm Palantir Technologies, according to court filings made public on July 16, 2026. The revelation marks the latest escalation in an ongoing legal battle over the use of healthcare data for immigration enforcement.

The case, State of California v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, stems from a June 2025 agreement between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Homeland Security that gave ICE access to the personal data of approximately 79 million Medicaid enrollees. A coalition of more than 20 Democratic attorneys general, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, sued the Trump administration in July 2025, arguing the data sharing violates the Social Security Act.

In December 2025, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that health officials could share certain limited data — such as addresses, dates of birth, and immigration status — about immigrants without lawful status with ICE. But the data sharing was supposed to be tightly restricted.

The January 7 Data Breach

On January 7, 2026, CMS improperly transferred a dataset containing information on millions of people — including U.S. citizens and legal immigrants — to ICE, far exceeding what the court order permitted. According to NPR’s reporting, one dataset included refugees in Minnesota who were U.S. citizens, and another contained data on millions of people, including those in the country legally.

ICE then shared this improperly obtained data with Palantir, which operates the ELITE application — a tool that aggregates data from multiple government sources to create map-based deportation targets with “confidence scores” on addresses. 404 Media first reported on the ELITE tool in January 2026, describing how ICE uses it to identify neighborhoods for enforcement operations.

Multiple Violations and Failed Deletion Efforts

The court filings revealed a pattern of systemic failures in data governance. Federal officials admitted to additional instances of improper data sharing — CMS inadvertently re-shared the same dataset with ICE during an effort to share data from states not involved in the lawsuit.

ICE Section Chief Alberto Briseno stated in a declaration that while the initial file was deleted, a broader search revealed that half a dozen ICE users still had copies of the January 7 dataset. Briseno acknowledged “technological difficulties” in ensuring complete deletion, stating that ICE will “continue to make good faith efforts to delete any copies that may be found in the future.”

According to a declaration filed by California Deputy Attorney General Anna Rich, the data had been shared with Palantir over a Microsoft Teams chat. A document turned over in discovery shows a redacted transcript of ICE personnel asking Palantir to delete the file.

Palantir’s Response

Palantir stated to NPR that “the dataset in question was purged pursuant to government instruction.” The company maintained that its employees only access customer data to help integrate and analyze it, “not to store it or use it for our own purposes.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation has raised concerns about Palantir’s role in immigration enforcement, warning about the dangers of consolidating government data into a single searchable interface.

Judge’s Warning and Legal Implications

Judge Chhabria had warned the federal government in an April 30, 2026 hearing that it could lose access to Medicaid data entirely if it continued improperly sharing data of citizens and legal immigrants. “If the federal government cannot be sufficiently careful then it can’t use the information, ok?” Chhabria said.

In late May, Chhabria temporarily paused data sharing between CMS and ICE after federal officials admitted to the January over-sharing. A hearing is scheduled for August 2026 to further clarify the court’s order.

The Broader Context

The revelations come as the Department of Justice is asking the judge to expand his order to allow ICE to receive data on a broader category of noncitizens — potentially including all immigrants who are not legal permanent residents, citizens, or have another form of permanent status.

The Democratic attorneys general argued in their motion that “ICE’s inability to identify Medicaid records in its possession undercuts any claim that the agency should be entitled to more access to that data.” They warned that each successive revelation of violations makes it more difficult for states to assure the public about the privacy and confidentiality of their healthcare data.

What’s Next

The August 2026 hearing before Judge Chhabria will be a pivotal moment in determining the future of the data-sharing program. The case raises fundamental questions about whether health data — which patients provide to access medical care — can be used for law enforcement purposes, and what limits exist on inter-agency government data sharing. Civil liberties groups have warned that the policy could deter immigrants from seeking healthcare, creating public health risks, while the broader consolidation of government data through private contractors like Palantir continues to face increased scrutiny.