New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Monday that she is leading a coalition of 20 Democratic attorneys general in a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its directive requiring states to submit information about food stamp recipients and applicants. James condemned the move as a “dangerous and illegal overreach” aimed at identifying and locating illegal immigrants.
The lawsuit, spearheaded by James, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, comes in response to a Trump administration mandate demanding that states hand over detailed personal data related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by July 30.
The administration has warned that states failing to comply risk losing SNAP funding, setting up a significant legal showdown between the federal government and Democratic-led states.
During a press call Monday, James and her colleagues denounced the data request as an “illegal data grab” intended to intimidate vulnerable communities and aid in immigration enforcement. “This administration is attempting to use this program as a tool in their cruel and chaotic targeting of immigrants,” James said.
This marks yet another legal confrontation between James and Trump since the beginning of his second term. She has joined over a dozen lawsuits challenging his administration’s actions.
Bonta criticized the USDA’s actions as a betrayal of SNAP’s original purpose, saying the program was created to ensure low-income families can access food. “SNAP recipients provided this information to get help to feed their families—not to be entered into a government surveillance database, or be used as targets for the president’s inhumane immigration agenda,” Bonta said. “This kind of targeting doesn’t make America safer. It threatens kids’ access to school meals, it jeopardizes wildfire survivors’ access to relief. And it sends a chilling message: if you reach out for help, you may be punished for it.”
The attorneys general disputed the administration’s claim that the data request is aimed at combating “waste and fraud,” arguing that SNAP historically has “very low rates of fraud.” Instead, they labeled the request a “flat-out illegal” attempt to collect sensitive personal information on immigrants.
The newly released USDA requirements would force states to provide lists of SNAP applicants and recipients, along with immigration statuses, marital status, addresses, and education and employment histories, among other data. The AGs stated that complying with this order would involve turning over data on millions of residents dating back to 2020, in violation of federal privacy laws.
“This is not for research,” James said. “They are basically trying to weaponize the SNAP program against immigrant communities, in violation of the law.”
Bonta added, “They’re bypassing legal procedures, ignoring privacy protections, and demanding data that federal law explicitly says can only be used for administering the SNAP program,” noting that the administration disregarded “hundreds of public comments pointing out major flaws in the government’s plans.”
The lawsuit follows a broader trend of legal opposition to the Trump administration by Democratic-led states. Since Trump’s second inauguration, 35 lawsuits have been filed challenging various policy initiatives. According to Bonta, the USDA directive violates the “Spending Clause, federal privacy statutes, and the USDA’s own authority.”
“President Trump made promises to the American people and now he’s breaking them,” the group said. “He’s rewriting the rules, targeting the most vulnerable and expecting states to fall in line.”
