The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has quietly authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement to tap the personal records of roughly 79 million Medicaid enrollees, according to an agreement obtained by the Associated Press and confirmed by Reuters. The memorandum of understanding, signed this week between HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security, grants ICE access to beneficiaries’ home addresses, birth dates, ethnic and racial data and Social Security numbers. Under the deal, officials may log onto the federal Medicaid database from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays through 9 September but are barred from downloading files. DHS said the arrangement is intended to ensure people living in the United States illegally are not drawing benefits, while HHS insisted the data-sharing falls “within its legal authority” and targets waste and fraud. The disclosure expands the Trump administration’s use of social-service records in support of immigration enforcement, a campaign that already aims to arrest about 3,000 people daily. Privacy advocates and public-health experts warn the move could violate HIPAA protections and deter vulnerable families from seeking medical care. Twenty states have sued over earlier HHS data requests, and congressional Democrats—including Senator Adam Schiff—asked the agencies to suspend the new accord. CMS staff emails released by AP show internal misgivings, with one lawyer urging a pause while litigation proceeds.