How Medicaid Data Ended Up With ICE and a Tech Company Called Palantir

What Happened in Simple Terms

Imagine the government keeps a big book of health info for people using a program called Medicaid (a kind of health help for people with low income). Some officials shared info from that book about millions of people with immigration officers (called ICE) when they weren’t supposed to. Then ICE gave that info to a tech company named Palantir. This all came out in new court papers.

• A picture from May 2026 shows ICE agents outside a detention center in Newark, New Jersey.
• Medicaid officials improperly shared data with ICE in January.
• ICE then shared that data with Palantir, a data analytics firm.
• Palantir runs an app called ELITE that ICE uses to see addresses of noncitizens who may be deported.

Important Point: The data sharing was improper — it went beyond what a court said was allowed, and included people in the country legally and even U.S. citizens.

Who Sued and Why

More than 20 Democratic state lawyers (attorneys general) filed a motion on Thursday. They had already sued the Trump administration last year because of a deal to share Medicaid data with ICE.

• The state lawyers are led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
• They want to stop federal health officials from sharing more Medicaid data for immigration enforcement.

What the Judge Said

A judge named Vince Chhabria (in California, picked by President Obama) made some rules:

1. In December, he said health officials could share some details (like home addresses, birth dates, immigration status) about immigrants without legal status from the suing states.
2. In late May, he paused the data sharing after officials admitted CMS shared too much in January.
   • One dataset from Minnesota included U.S. citizens.
   • A January 7 dataset had millions of people, including legal residents.
3. He set a hearing for August to clarify what data can be shared.
4. At an April 30 hearing, he warned: if the government keeps sharing wrongly, it can’t use the info at all. "If the federal government cannot be sufficiently careful then it can’t use the information, ok?"

More Mistakes with the Data

Federal officials admitted more wrong sharing recently:

• Last week, the Justice Department said CMS again shared the millions-name dataset with ICE by accident during a try to share data from non-suing states.
• ICE’s Alberto Briseno said the file was deleted and not used.
• A broader search found half a dozen users still had the Jan. 7 copy.
• Briseno said it’s hard to promise every copy is gone, but ICE will keep trying to delete any found.

Important Point: ICE was supposed to delete the bad data, but copies kept turning up — showing it’s tough to fully erase digital files.

Palantir and the Missing Answers

Palantir got the Jan. 7 data from ICE. Court papers say it was shared over Microsoft Teams chat and deleted from there. A redacted transcript shows ICE asking Palantir to delete the file.

• Palantir did not comment on whether it deleted the data.
• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not comment on sending data to Palantir.

What the Government Wants Now

The Justice Department asks the judge to let ICE get data on more noncitizens — possibly all immigrants who are not permanent residents, citizens, or have permanent status.

The state lawyers wrote: "ICE’s inability to identify Medicaid records in its possession undercuts any claim that the agency should be entitled to more access." They said each new violation makes it harder to trust the data is safe.

Summary

Medicaid officials wrongly shared millions of people’s data with ICE, who passed it to Palantir. A judge allowed limited sharing but paused it after mistakes. More accidental shares were found, copies remained, and the state lawyers say ICE shouldn’t get more data until it can handle it safely. A hearing is set for August.

FAQ

Q: What is Medicaid?
A: Medicaid is a government health program that helps people with low income pay for medical care.

Q: Who is ICE?
A: ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the officers who handle immigration and deportation.

Q: What is Palantir?
A: Palantir is a tech company that analyzes big piles of data. It made an app called ELITE that ICE uses to map addresses of people who might be deported.

Q: Why are the state lawyers worried?
A: They fear private health data of citizens and legal immigrants isn’t safe because ICE keeps finding copies of data it was told to delete.

Q: What happens next?
A: A judge will hold a hearing in August to decide what data sharing is allowed and clear up the confusion.