NY Joins Fight To Protect Identities Of SNAP Recipients From Trump Administration
NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James has joined a lawsuit with 20 other attorneys general and the state of Kentucky in defiance of a Trump administration executive order requiring that states provide the federal government with personal information of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries. It is hoped that the action will protect the privacy rights of the more than 40 million people throughout the country who rely on the food assistance progam. In the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, James and the coalition are challenging a Trump administration requirement that states turn over the personal information of all residents who receive support from SNAP to purchase groceries. The states signed on to the lawsuit argue that the sensitive data, which includes home addresses, Social Security numbers, recent locations, and immigration statuses will likely be shared across federal agencies and used for immigration enforcement, in violation of the law. The states are seeking a court judgment declaring the administration's new policy illegal and preventing enforcement."Families should be able to get the food assistance they need without fearing that they will be targeted by this administration," James said. "I will not allow the SNAP benefits that millions of New Yorkers count on to be put at risk. We are suing today to stop this illegal policy and protect New Yorkers' privacy and access to food assistance."On March 25, President Trump signed Executive Order 14243, "Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos," requiring agency heads to "take all necessary steps, to the maximum extent consistent with law, to ensure the federal government has unfettered access to comprehensive data from all State programs that receive federal funding, including, as appropriate, data generated by those programs but maintained in third-party databases."In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced it would require states to make certain all records associated with SNAP benefits and allotments are shared with the federal government."President Trump is rightfully requiring the federal government to have access to all programs it funds, and SNAP is no exception," Secretary Rollins said at the time, "For years, this program has been on autopilot, with no USDA insight into real-time data. The Department is focused on appropriate and lawful participation in SNAP, and today’s request is one of many steps to ensure SNAP is preserved for only those eligible."The SNAP program is federally funded, and administered by states.James said that since the executive order was issued, the Trump administration has embarked on a campaign of demanding access to Americans' private personal information and using it for unauthorized purposes. Both federal and state laws prohibit states from disclosing personally identifying SNAP data unless it is strictly necessary for the program, James and her allies contend.The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers SNAP, has ordered states to submit personally identifying information, including names, dates of birth, personal addresses, and Social Security numbers, of all SNAP applicants and recipients since January 2020. The USDA has threatened states with potential SNAP funding cuts if they refuse to comply. "As a result of USDA's new demand, states have been put in the impossible position of either complying and violating the law, or protecting their residents' personal information while jeopardizing millions of dollars in funding used to administer the SNAP program," according to the AG's Office. "More than 55 percent of SNAP participants are in families with children, and more than 36 percent are in families with members who are elderly or have disabilities."In May of 2025, around 1.7 million New York households, representing over 2.9 million individuals, participated in SNAP, according to the state. Almosat one million of those were children. While non-citizens are usually ineligible for SNAP benefits, federal law allows non-citizen parents to apply for SNAP benefits on behalf of their children who are citizens.Attorney General James and the coalition argue that the administration's new demands are unconstitutional and violate the "Administrative Procedure Act" by requiring states to violate federal laws and regulations. The article NY Joins Fight To Protect Identities Of SNAP Recipients From Trump Administration appeared first on New Rochelle, NY Patch.
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