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The Trump administration threatened to begin withholding federal food assistance from dozens of Democratic-led states next week after officials refused to turn over SNAP recipients' names and immigration statuses.
According to NBC News, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the food assistance freeze on Tuesday (December 2) for the 21 Democratic-led states that declined to comply with the department's February data request.
“So as of next week, we have begun and will begin to stop moving federal funds into those states, until they comply, and they tell us and allow us to partner with them to root out this fraud and to protect the American taxpayer,” Rollins said.
Roughly 42 million Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for food assistance. According to the Agriculture Department, 29 Republican-led states turned in SNAP recipient data, including names and immigration statuses, complying with the agency's request. 21 states and Washington, D.C. sued the administration to block the data requirement, arguing it was an effort to “amass Americans’ sensitive, personal data and misuse that data."
In October, a federal judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction preventing the administration from withholding SNAP funds over the states’ refusal to comply. The Agriculture Department has until December 15 to appeal, but the judge has already denied a request to pause the injunction if an appeal is filed.
Democratic officials condemned the threat to withhold SNAP.
“Genuine question: Why is the Trump Administration so hellbent on people going hungry?” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called Rollins’ remarks an attempt to “punish ... political rivals,” noting that “a court clearly barred them from doing so.”
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