Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will reportedly receive access to the personal information of 79 million people enrolled in Medicaid, including ethnicities and addresses, to search for illegal immigrants.

The information will provide ICE with the power to discover “the location of aliens” around the U.S. according to a Monday interdepartmental agreement obtained by The Associated Press (AP). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) signed the agreement, which has not been publicly announced.

“ICE will use the CMS data to allow ICE to receive identity and location information on aliens identified by ICE,” the agreement read, according to the AP.

The data will reportedly show ICE officials the names, addresses, ethnic and racial data, birthdays and Social Security numbers for all Medicaid enrollees. ICE cannot download the data. They have access from Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and until Sept. 9, according to the agreement.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the AP that both agencies “are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans.”

Rujul H. Desai, CMS chief legal officer, said CMS officials should press the Department of Justice (DOJ) to request that the White House “pause” the information sharing in an email chain obtained by the AP. A Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) lawyer reportedly responded by claiming that the DOJ was “comfortable with CMS proceeding with providing DHS access.”

The agreement notes that DHS will employ the data to track down illegal immigrants for deportation. HHS officials have said it would be used mainly to see if non-U.S. citizens were taking Medicaid benefits and save money.

CMS is not the only one partnering with ICE. Palantir Technologies, a software company specializing in data analytics and AI, is developing a new tool for ICE with advanced capabilities to facilitate deportations, according to federal documents obtained by Axios Denver.

Demonstrators walk through the lobby of 9200 Sunset holding signs criticizing ICE and tech companies like Palantir on June 13 2025 in Los Angeles California USA. (Photo by Madison Swart / Hans Lucas via AFP) (Photo by MADISON SWART/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

ICE granted Palantir nearly $30 million to provide a new system called the Immigration Lifecycle Operating System (ImmigrationOS) by Sept. 25. The program will include “streamlined end to end immigration lifecycle from identification to removal, with increased efficiency in deportation logistics, minimizing time and resource expenditure,” federal documents say.

Palantir has had contracts with ICE for over a decade, including during the Obama and Biden administrations, according to Axios.