- ICE improperly shared unauthorized Medicaid data of millions with Palantir systems after failing to delete records.
- A court filing reveals six users retained copies of the January dataset despite a federal deletion order.
- Judge Vince Chhabria paused all data sharing in May twenty twenty-six following repeated federal government compliance failures.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) improperly shared Medicaid data with Palantir after receiving records it was not authorized to possess, according to a federal court filing that also disclosed the agency failed to remove every copy as ordered.
The disclosure came in a motion filed Thursday, July 16, 2026, by more than 20 Democratic attorneys general. The states are challenging a data-sharing agreement between the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the deportation agency.
Alberto Briseno, a section chief for Homeland Security Investigations, declared that personnel deleted the file after discovering the problem. A broader search the next day found that half a dozen users still had copies of the Jan. 7 dataset.
Some records remained in use. Briseno said the file was not used for law enforcement purposes, but acknowledged that technological difficulties made it hard to guarantee every file variation had been found and deleted.
A court order limited the records the department could receive
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled in December 2025 that CMS could share limited information only about people not lawfully residing in the United States. The permitted fields included addresses, birth dates and immigration status.
The Jan. 7, 2026, dataset contained information on millions of people, including individuals legally in the country. Another dataset covered U.S. citizens, including refugees in Minnesota.
The records initially reached the department in January 2026. CMS inadvertently reshared the same dataset in recent days, during an effort to provide information from states not involved in the lawsuit.
Chhabria temporarily paused all CMS-agency data sharing in late May 2026. Federal officials had acknowledged that the department received information beyond the limits of his order.
The judge, appointed by President Obama, had warned the government during an April 30, 2026, hearing:
“If the federal government cannot be sufficiently careful then it can’t use the information, ok?”
Six users retained copies after the deletion effort
The filing describes a two-stage search. Personnel first deleted the file after discovering that it had been improperly acquired. A broader review conducted one day later found six users who still retained copies of the Jan. 7 records.
Briseno said he was “not aware of any additional copies.” He also acknowledged “technological difficulties” in locating and deleting every version.
The court had ordered the agency to eliminate all improperly acquired data. The states used the discovery to challenge the department’s handling of sensitive records.
“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”
The attorneys general also wrote:
“Each successive revelation of a violation of the Order makes it more difficult for Plaintiff States to have confidence in Defendants’ ability to maintain and secure this data”
The records fed a system used to locate people
The Palantir “ELITE” application, formally called Enhanced Leads Identification and Targeting for Enforcement, helps agents identify addresses of noncitizens facing deportation.
The company also built ImmigrationOS, a system that searches the health records to map people for deportation and compile dossiers that include where they live. The Department of Homeland Security gave the company $1 billion in February 2026 to build an artificial intelligence-powered system for identifying immigrants for deportation.
The court dispute therefore involves more than the transfer of a single file. It concerns records used in systems designed to identify locations and generate enforcement leads.
Justice Department seeks access to a broader group
While the states challenge the existing arrangement, the Department of Justice is asking Chhabria to expand his order. The request would allow the department to receive information on a broader category of noncitizens.
That category could include all immigrants who are not legal permanent residents, citizens or people with another form of permanent status. The request would widen the population covered by future transfers beyond the limits set in the December 2025 ruling.
The recent discovery puts that request against the department’s record of handling the earlier dataset. The court’s May pause remains tied to the admission that officials shared information beyond the order.
The motion asks the court to weigh those failures as it considers whether the government should receive additional records. The next dispute centers on whether the agency can identify, secure and remove data that it was never authorized to hold.
