During the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions, states enacted or proposed a range of legislation that will impact immigrants’ access to state-funded health coverage and other services as well as actions related to how states may enhance or limit federal enforcement activities. For immigration practitioners and their clients, understanding these state-level shifts is critical: they directly affect benefits eligibility, filing strategy, public charge determinations, and family planning.
What changed
Several states have rolled back or plan to scale back state-funded health coverage programs for immigrants to reduce budget deficits amid economic uncertainties. As of June 2026, six states, including DC, have recently eliminated, reduced, or plan to scale back state-funded health coverage for immigrants due to budget pressures.
At the same time, some states are expanding access to health coverage or other benefits for immigrants, including lawfully present immigrants losing eligibility for federally funded health coverage under the 2025 reconciliation law, and/or enhancing protections for immigrants. Washington increased funding for the state-funded Food Assistance Program to provide assistance to lawfully present immigrants who were eligible for SNAP benefits prior to the 2025 reconciliation law changes, and California’s governor’s 2026-27 budget proposes using state funds to continue providing nutrition assistance to immigrants who were eligible for state-funded assistance prior to the 2025 reconciliation law.
On enforcement, some states have enacted laws to support the Trump administration’s increased interior immigration enforcement activities, including sharing data from Medicaid or other state agencies with federal enforcement officials. While some states are seeking to enhance protections for immigrants, the Trump administration signed an executive order directing federal agencies to suspend federal grants and contracts with states or local jurisdictions identified as obstructing enforcement of federal immigration laws, or “sanctuary jurisdictions.”
Why it matters
State-by-state divergence now creates a patchwork of benefits eligibility and enforcement coordination that you must map for every client. This brief summarizes recent and proposed actions by states related to access to state-funded health coverage and other services for immigrants and immigration enforcement activity during the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions based on KFF analysis as of June 2026, though several state legislatures were still in session, so additional actions may be taken during the 2026 session.
For practitioners:
- Benefits counseling: A client’s eligibility for nutrition assistance, health coverage, or other state services now depends on both immigration status and which state they live in. States rolling back coverage create urgency for filing before cutoff dates.
- Public charge: Practitioners advising on I-485 public charge inadmissibility must now consider whether a client’s state is scaling back immigrant benefits (which may reduce future reliance risk) or expanding them (which may increase it).
- Data sharing and confidentiality: Clients in states sharing Medicaid or state agency data with DHS face heightened privacy risk. Practitioners need to know their state’s data-sharing posture before enrolling mixed-status families in state benefits.
- Mixed-status households: When one family member receives state benefits, the other’s immigration status and the state’s data-sharing rules now affect the entire household’s exposure.
Way forward
- Audit your state: Check whether your state has enacted laws to share Medicaid or state agency data with federal immigration enforcement. If so, advise clients of the risk before enrolling in state benefits.
- Map benefits by state: Create a quick-reference for your jurisdiction showing which state programs are expanding or contracting for immigrants, and which categories (SNAP, Medicaid, nutrition assistance) are affected. Revisit it quarterly—state legislatures were still in session as of June 2026, so additional actions may be taken.
- Time filings around cutoffs: If your state is rolling back immigrant health coverage or nutrition assistance, coordinate client filings and benefit applications before those rollbacks take effect.
- Document immigration status carefully: If advising on I-485, use state benefits data (or lack thereof) as contemporaneous evidence of public charge risk or reliance on state services.
Disclaimer
This summary is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) is a nonprofit organization providing health policy research; it is not a law firm. Immigration law is complex and state policy changes frequently. You should consult a licensed immigration attorney in your jurisdiction before relying on any benefit eligibility determination or advising a client on public charge, data-sharing risk, or state-funded programs. Verify all information against the primary KFF source and your state’s legislative databases.