Twenty states are suing the Trump administration, alleging that the Department of Agriculture is improperly attempting to gather sensitive personal information of low-income families across the country who use food stamps.
The USDA has demanded information, including Social Security numbers and home addresses, from people who get credits from the federal government to help buy groceries through a program called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
“This unprecedented demand that states turn over SNAP data violates all kinds of state and federal privacy laws and further breaks the trust between the federal government and the people it serves,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Monday ahead of the lawsuit being filed. “The president doesn’t get to change the rules in the middle of the game, no matter how much he may want to.”
The demand is the latest in a series of initiatives by the Trump administration to use federal agencies to gain access to Americans’ personal data.
In May, a federal judge declined to stop the IRS from sharing highly sensitive taxpayer information with federal immigration authorities who hoped to use the data to track down undocumented immigrants and quickly deport them. The same immigration authorities were also allowed access to personal data from the nation’s 79 million Medicaid enrollees.
“President Trump is rightfully requiring the federal government to have access to all programs it funds,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said when announcing the effort in May. “SNAP is no exception. For years, this program has been on autopilot, with no USDA insight into real-time data.”
A USDA spokesperson said the department does not comment on pending litigation.
Trump has continuously sought to further monitor and restrict the use of SNAP. During his first administration, USDA issued guidance to mandate that more food stamp recipients to work to receive benefits. A judge quickly blocked the guidance from being implemented.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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