Health Care Slashed. ICE Empowered. What It Means for MLT
The new federal bill guts care and supercharges surveillance. We still have a choice here.
Hi neighbors,
This week, as Mountlake Terrace continues planning for its new license plate surveillance system, something big happened at the national level that deserves our attention.
On July 4, President Trump signed into law the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. While the fireworks were flying, the federal government finalized what might be the most dangerous expansion of surveillance and immigration enforcement in modern U.S. history. And to pay for it, they slashed health care.
This isn’t distant policy stuff. It has real implications right here in our community.
What Was Cut — and Why It Hurts Here
The bill includes around $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and ACA programs over 10 years:
Massive Medicaid Cuts Leading to Coverage Loss. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts these cuts will result in 12 million people losing their health insurance by 2034.
Medicaid Work Requirements. Despite evidence this leads to coverage loss for people who are already working.
Eliminated ACA Subsidies and Tax Credits. These changes narrow eligibility and make health insurance less affordable for working families.
Higher Private Insurance Costs. As more people lose coverage, hospitals face more uncompensated care—costs that often get passed on to everyone else.
Why this matters in Mountlake Terrace:
1 in 5 households earn less than $50,000/year
→ These families are most likely to qualify for Medicaid or subsidized ACA plans—and most at risk if those are rolled back.Over 10% of residents live in poverty
→ Any increase in paperwork, fees, or eligibility hurdles will disproportionately push these residents out of the system entirely.26% of residents rent
→ Renters often face financial instability and are less likely to have employer-sponsored insurance, making public health coverage essential.17% are seniors, many of whom rely on Medicare or Medicaid
→ Cuts to Medicaid could erode long-term care support, in-home health services, and affordability for fixed-income retirees.Just 62% of residents report access to affordable health care
→ That means more than a third of our community already struggles—and these cuts will only widen the gap.Mountlake Terrace is racially diverse: 12% Hispanic or Latino, 12% Asian, 4% Black, and 11% multiracial
→ Communities of color are disproportionately affected by barriers to coverage and care, and are more likely to be harmed by both policy changes and surveillance systems.
These cuts are not abstract. They threaten the health and stability of our neighbors.
What Got Funded — and How It Reaches Mountlake Terrace
In recent issues, I’ve shared how Mountlake Terrace’s contract with Flock Safety leaves the door wide open for data collected here to end up in federal hands. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is the scale of the system that data may soon feed into.
The same bill that slashed healthcare spending also:
$30 Billion for ICE. The bill makes ICE the single largest federal law enforcement agency, with a bigger budget than the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons—combined.
$6.5 Billion for Surveillance Tech. This includes license plate readers, biometric systems, and real-time border monitoring.
$4.5 Billion for Detention. Vastly expands detention capacity, including contracts with private prison companies.
$300 Million for Local Police. Supports partnerships between local law enforcement and federal immigration efforts, including border-style operations in cities.
Flock already has contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. We know that federal agents have accessed Flock systems, including through local partnerships. And under Mountlake Terrace’s own contract, Flock can share our data with anyone they choose—without notice, justification, or public disclosure.
This isn’t speculation. It’s already happening.
So the question becomes:
Can we honestly say we trust Flock, already working with federal agencies, not to cash in on this moment?
The best path forward for Mountlake Terrace is still to cancel the Flock contract before the cameras are installed—even if that means eating the $27,000 cost.
What This Means for Us
We cannot count on checks and balances to save us. The courts are shifting. Federal agencies are being repurposed. Norms are breaking. That makes our local choices matter more than ever.
What Our City Leaders Should Do
What we continue to ask for is:
Affirm our values publicly
Require public review of all Flock MOUs
Re-establish a Community Policing Advisory Board
Commit to public audit reports of the Flock system
We may not control what’s happening nationally. But we still choose how to respond, here in our neighborhoods, our council chambers, and our conversations.
One national leader put it this way: “There are no guardrails. A disaster. I’m sorry we have to live through this.” She’s right. The system being built now makes everything that came before it look like a dress rehearsal. ICE is being given more power than the FBI, the DEA, and the Bureau of Prisons combined—and there are fewer limits than ever before.
We need to be clear about what’s happening and steady in how we respond.
And we are responding. Quietly, maybe, but getting louder.
Resisting, right here in MLT,
Dustin