On Capitol Hill, two House Democrats from Southern California are introducing legislation that would block federal agencies from sharing information with immigration and customs enforcement agents.

As part of his crackdown on undocumented immigrants, President Donald Trump has given ICE agents access to the private data of millions of Americans to help them hunt for people who are in the country without authorization.

Under his executive order, ICE agents have obtained the name, address, immigration status and other personal information kept by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

“We are drawing a line in the sand,” said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., during a press conference to introduce her bill, the Limiting ICE’s Nationwide Encroachment (LINE) Act, which would prohibit that data from being shared. “Health care access should never be conditioned on immigration status, or fear of government surveillance and fear of immigrant enforcement should not stop people from seeking necessary health care.”

Kamlager-Dove was joined by Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., who introduced a similar bill to stop the Department of Housing and Urban Development from sharing similar information, called the Home Together Act.

“We have to protect immigrant families. We also have to protect people’s personal data. Hands off our data!” Vargas declared.

The California congressman, who represents the southernmost district along the Mexico border, said his constituents are being racially profiled by ICE agents.

“I’ve heard from my district and my district is the border district that immigrants are terrorized, even people who are citizens, because now they feel like when they go to Home Depot or somewhere, now they can be arrested just because they look like someone who might not have documents — because they’re Latino, they speak Spanish, and they have an old truck.”

Spectrum News reached out to DHS for comment on Vargas’ accusations. On Friday, the department's Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued the following statement that read in part: 

"President Trump consistently promised to protect Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries. To keep that promise after Joe Biden flooded our country with tens of millions of illegal aliens CMS and DHS are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans. Reps. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Juan Vargas should understand this principle pretty well by now, since California had to announce they were freezing Medi-Cal enrollment for illegal immigrants earlier this year."

She added that, "this information sharing is essential to identify who is in our country, including violent criminals, determine what public safety and terror threats may exist so we can neutralize them, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, and identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense."

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson criticized such characterization, telling Spectrum News that “Democrats continue to put illegal aliens over law-abiding American citizens.”

“Any allegations that ICE officers are ‘terrorizing’ or ‘racially profiling’ individuals are not only flat out false, but dangerous smears that are contributing to the 1,000% increase in assaults against ICE officers,” Jackson said. “The Trump administration is committed to carrying out the largest mass deportation operation of criminal illegal aliens, no matter what Democrats have to say.”

The two bills are likely to go nowhere in a Republican-controlled Congress. But Kamlager-Dove said she hopes her colleagues across the aisle will remember the communities they represent are not immune to being swept up in an immigration raid.

“We all have immigrant communities in our districts. They own businesses, they work in businesses, they go to our churches, they help us when we are in need — we even have them in our families,” reasoned Kamlager-Dove. “If you do not want your friends, if you don’t want your neighbors, if you don’t want your clients, if you don’t want your patients to be racially profiled, to be detained, potentially separated from their families and deported just because of the color of their skin or because someone wants to profile them — you should want to stand up and say, protect these communities.”

“We need to take a look at how we are allowing this administration to define immigrants,” she added. “We need to stand up and share the truth about this country, its history and its future and its dynamism, and remind everyone of the reason why we are so competitive.”