Skill Level: Accessible for everyone — no tech wizardry required
What This Tool Is
The federal government is now funneling Medicaid data to ICE, including addresses and other personal info of millions of people. This guide teaches you how to fortify your privacy, protect family and neighbors, and pressure lawmakers to restore the firewall between healthcare and surveillance.
Why This Matters
Healthcare should be safe, not a trap. When people fear their info will send ICE to their door, they skip medication, skip prenatal care, skip the ER — and lives are lost. This isn’t abstract. This is lethal policy.
Example: A mixed-status family with a sick child may stop seeing a doctor rather than risk a knock at midnight. Fascists know that fear works — and they’re counting on silence.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Review your own benefits
Check what programs you or loved ones are on. Know what data is held and by whom.
Medicaid? CHIP? State health assistance? Telehealth services? - Add a privacy shield. Enable state-available Alternate Contact or Authorized Rep fields when allowed — this can limit direct home-address exposure in some states.
- Support your community network Ask local clinics, community health centers, and mutual-aid groups if they have Know Your Rights medical privacy materials. If not? Help them get some.
- Pressure the people who can stop this Call both Senators and your House rep:
“End Medicaid-ICE data-sharing. Healthcare is not a surveillance system.”
Ask them to support legislation restoring health privacy firewalls.
5. Tell providers the truth
Clinics need to hear:
“Your patients are scared.”
Healthcare workers are powerful advocates — when they speak up, rules change.
6. Stay loud online
Post, share, email — make sure the public knows this isn’t “immigration policy,” it’s data exploitation that threatens everyone’s safety.
Closing from Resistance Kitty
Healthcare is a human right, not a fishing net for fascism.
Protect your neighbors. Protect yourself.
We take care of us.
#Revolution2025