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A new CMS enrollment data transfer program will help remove ineligible immigrants from Medicaid and CHIP. Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a major new effort to improve oversight of public health insurance programs. In what appears to be the next step in an ongoing effort to combat fraud and abuse in Medicaid, CMS will issue a monthly report to every state detailing Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollees whose immigration or citizenship status is unclear or in question.

CMS officials confirmed the move to The Hill on Tuesday, describing the decision as “a natural next step” in the Trump administration’s second-term efforts to crack down on non-citizens receiving taxpayer-funded government benefits. The report was first reported by Politico on Tuesday.

CMS expects to issue its first report on the new system on Tuesday, with each state receiving its own report throughout the month. States will be required to then review the cases on their own and contact CMS to report the results of their investigations.

CMS’s change in Medicaid and CHIP enrollment procedures is just the latest in a series of actions the Trump administration has taken since President Donald Trump’s second term began to ensure that illegal immigrants are ineligible to receive any taxpayer-funded federal benefits. Within weeks of taking office for a second term, Trump signed an executive order in February directing executive agencies to review all federal programs to identify ways to “curb fraud and abuse” by individuals not eligible to receive benefits. Trump’s executive order required executive agencies to, among other things, implement changes where needed to ensure non-citizens were not receiving benefits in violation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, a Republican-led effort to end welfare as an entitlement.

CMS announced this latest effort shortly after the Department of Health and Human Services expanded the list of public benefit programs earlier this year. The list had previously contained 31 programs, but was updated in May to include 44. The new list of public benefits includes several programs not previously on the list, including housing programs and various food assistance programs.

The White House’s latest immigration crackdown has met with some legal resistance from the judiciary and political resistance from left-leaning states. Last month, a federal court judge ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to stop passing Medicaid and CHIP enrollee data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Trump administration had begun the practice of passing along enrollee information to ICE earlier this year as part of the White House’s broader efforts to identify illegal immigrants in the United States.

CMS’s move on illegal immigrant enrollment comes as part of a second provision in the omnibus spending bill Republicans pushed through Congress last month. The spending package included a second statutory mandate that, in addition to the change in eligibility reporting, would require states to perform their own eligibility checks on Medicaid enrollees at least twice each year. While supporters of the omnibus hailed the measure as necessary to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid program, a coalition of Democratic attorneys general says they will be challenging the rule in court.

Led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, the multi-state coalition of more than 20 attorneys general is suing the Trump administration over the newly adopted federal rule, saying it will harm millions of residents. Mandatory verification of individuals’ immigration status to receive federally funded public benefits, the attorneys general said, will discourage qualified residents from accessing critical programs and services.

“For decades, states like New York have built health, education, and family support systems that serve anyone in need,” James said in a statement. “These programs work because they are open, accessible, and grounded in compassion. Now, the federal government is pulling that foundation out from under us overnight, jeopardizing cancer screenings, early childhood education, primary care, and so much more. This is a baseless attack on some of our country’s most effective and inclusive public programs, and we will not let it stand.”

The lawsuit is part of a larger fight between Republican federal leaders in Washington and Democrat-led states over how far the federal government should go in terms of linking public safety-net programs to federal immigration efforts. While the first set of CMS reports will go out to states this month, the broader fight over illegal immigrants and public benefits is likely to play out in the courts and on Capitol Hill.