The Trump administration is threatening to withhold Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits if states don’t hand over the names and immigration status of their food assistance recipients.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the data demand is an effort to root out fraud in the program, which she claims is “rampant.”
Most states have turned over that info, but New Jersey is one of 22 states lead by Democrats that have refused.
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin has called the Trump administration’s move “illegal… and deeply immoral.” The attorney general’s office joined a lawsuit alleging the Trump administration is wrongly denying food assistance to noncitizens who Platkin says are eligible, including refugees, asylum seekers and legal permanent residents. Roughly 800,000 New Jersey residents are enrolled in SNAP.
Efforts to withhold SNAP funds are legally questionable, because the funds were appropriated by Congress.
Meanwhile, new work requirements for SNAP benefits went into effect this week, dictating enrollees prove they worked or volunteered a minimum of 80 hours per month to receive benefits.
