Capitol News

A federal court has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) from requiring states to submit sensitive personal information about recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The order, issued by the District Court for the Northern District of California, comes in response to a lawsuit led by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, along with 20 other attorneys general and the state of Kentucky.

The legal action was initiated after the USDA demanded that states provide personally identifying data—including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, recent locations, and immigration statuses—of all SNAP applicants and recipients. This requirement has been in place since January 2020. States faced threats of losing SNAP funding if they did not comply.

Attorney General Nessel stated: “By trying to illegally seize the personal data of more than a million Michigan residents, the Trump Administration attempted to force families into choosing between protecting their personal identifying information that may be shared for any purpose and eating. I am relieved the Court recognized the danger this posed, and I will continue to fight to ensure Michigan families never have to sacrifice their privacy to put food on the table.”

Federal and state laws restrict disclosure of personally identifying SNAP data except under limited circumstances. The coalition argued that sharing such information could result in it being used across federal agencies for purposes like immigration enforcement, which they claim would violate existing law.

Michigan’s SNAP program provides about $254 million per month in benefits to roughly 1.4 million residents. While non-citizens are generally not eligible for SNAP benefits themselves, federal law permits non-citizen parents to apply on behalf of their citizen children.

The temporary restraining order blocks both USDA’s demand for recipient data from plaintiff states and any withholding of SNAP funding during ongoing litigation.

Attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin; the District of Columbia; and Kentucky joined Nessel in filing suit.