The Trump administration has threatened to suspend Snap food assistance to several Democratic-led states unless they turn over recipient data to the federal government.
The agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, said on Tuesday that the USDA could begin blocking funds as early as next week if Democratic-led states continue to reject federal requests for Snap recipient data – information that includes immigration status and social security numbers.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Rollins said the USDA needed the data from each state to “root out this fraud, to make sure that those who really need food stamps are getting them, but also to ensure that the American taxpayer is protected”.
“Twenty-nine states said yes – not surprisingly, the red states, and that’s where all of that data, that fraud comes from. But 21 states including California, New York and Minnesota, blue states, continue to say no. 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.”
In a separate statement to the Guardian, a USDA spokesperson said: “USDA established a Snap integrity team to analyze not only data provided by states, but to scrub all available information to end indiscriminate welfare fraud.