Trump demands Medicaid data for deportation. Some states go further.

Several states have joined President Trump's deportation efforts and are taking federal reporting requirements to immigration authorities a step further — by using their public health agencies as arms of enforcement. North Carolina, in late April, became the latest member of a growing group of Republican-led states to require their public health agencies to flag recipients of Medicaid to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security if their legal status is in question. It's a trend health policy researchers expect to spread among GOP-controlled states eager to join Mr. Trump in the federal crackdown on Medicaid fraud and illegal immigration. Already, at least four states — Indiana , Louisiana , Montana , and Wyoming — have passed similar laws, and lawmakers in others, such as Oklahoma and Tennessee , are weighing measures. In those six states, Republicans hold a power trifecta — both chambers of the legislature and the governor's office. "This is an issue that is very much on the political radar right now," said Carmel Shachar , a health policy researcher at Harvard Law School. More than 75 million people are enrolled in Medicaid , the federal and state-run public health program for people with disabilities and low incomes, and its related Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides low-cost coverage for people under 19. …