One day after the current government shutdown, the Trump administration released a memo arguing Democrats want to repeal GOP reforms in the "big, beautiful bill" that aimed to close alleged backdoor loopholes allowing blue states to use federal dollars to pay for illegal immigrant healthcare. (Getty/iStock)
California was far-and-away the biggest culprit, which single-handedly spent over $1 billion in federal Medicaid dollars on healthcare for illegal immigrants, according to CMS. The next largest violator was Illinois, which CMS said has improperly spent nearly $30 million, followed by Oregon, which the audit found improperly spent approximately $5.5 million.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office has denied claims that his state is improperly using federal funds to pay for illegal immigrant healthcare, telling the Los Angeles Times that these claims from Republicans are "false."
But, Steve Hilton, a former Fox News anchor and current Republican candidate running to be the next Governor of California after Newsom is term-limited out, has argued that California has been using a complex Medicaid provision known as a "provider tax" to obtain matching federal dollars, which then gets pooled into the money used by the state to pay for its healthcare offered to undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, Chris Pope, a public health policy expert at the Manhattan Institute, has argued California is abusing federal provisions that allow states to use federal Medicaid dollars for emergency care for undocumented aliens.
Federal agents detain a person after attending a court hearing at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building on July 1, 2025 in New York City, United States. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu)
On Oct. 29, O'Neill highlighted Layth Kamil, a 24-year-old illegal alien from Iraq, convicted of exposing himself to a 15-year-old, who, according to O'Neill, has received close to $16,000 in taxpayer-funded healthcare through Medicaid. The day before, O'Neill highlighted the story of Haissam Massalkhy, a 45-year-old illegal alien from Lebanon, convicted after driving under the influence and killing an American citizen who was out jogging. Massalkhy has received over $30,000, according to O'Neill.
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Other illegal aliens O'Neill highlighted included folks convicted of attempted murder and child rape.
"Democrats are demanding continued funding of this violent illegal alien’s Medicaid as a condition for reopening the government and paying the hardworking public servants at my department," O'Neill lamented in one of his recent "MorningMedicaidMugshot" posts.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/key-trump-agency-vows-claw-back-over-1b-benefitting-illegals-blue-states