21 States, DC Sue USDA to Block New SNAP Limits for Immigrants

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by Trump restricted some immigrant groups from SNAP benefits.

A SNAP EBT information sign at a gas station in Riverwoods, Ill., on Nov. 1, 2025. Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo

A coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over the blockage of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for immigrants.

The Nov. 26 lawsuit, filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, targets certain provisions under the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump, that restricted eligibility for immigrants.

Before the OBBB, certain lawfully present immigrants were eligible for SNAP benefits provided they met the eligibility requirements and completed a five-year waiting period, unless exempted by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA), according to an Oct. 31 post by the USDA.

“Following the OBBB, some alien groups previously eligible for SNAP are no longer eligible,” it said.

On Oct. 31, the USDA sent a guidance memorandum to all SNAP state agencies, highlighting the new eligibility requirements. Five groups qualify for SNAP under OBBB: U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, Cuban and Haitian entrants, Compact of Free Association citizens, and lawful permanent residents (LPRs).

The lawsuit focuses on lawful permanent residents or green card holders, people legally authorized to permanently live in the United States. While immigrants may not become lawful permanent residents initially, they can eventually get a green card.

The guidance claims that some immigrant categories are eligible for SNAP once they become lawful permanent residents, according to the lawsuit. This includes certain American Indians born abroad, Hmong or Highland Laotian tribe members, battered aliens, conditional entrants, and victims of severe trafficking.

Other immigrant categories are deemed “not eligible” for SNAP benefits by the guidance, such as refugees, people granted asylum, parolees, those who have had their deportation withheld, and certain Afghan and Ukrainian nationals granted paroles, the lawsuit said.

The states criticized this differentiation between immigrant groups, arguing that individuals from both groups who adjust their status to become lawful permanent residents are eligible for SNAP.

People shop for food at a store that accepts food stamps in New York City, in an undated file photograph. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

“The Guidance specifically designates many individuals as categorically ‘Not eligible’ who have clear pathways to becoming LPRs. For example, Refugees and Individuals Granted Asylum may adjust status and become LPRs after one year,” they said.

The guidance goes beyond OBBB, “arbitrarily excluding from SNAP many lawful permanent residents who remain eligible under the statutory scheme established by Congress,” the states argued.

The guidance claims that immigrants who came as refugees, asylum seekers, and other Humanitarian Immigrant Groups are subject to a five-year waiting period to start receiving SNAP benefits.

The states argued that “PRWORA excludes individuals who were admitted as refugees, granted asylum, had their deportation withheld, and others, from the five-year waiting period. And no provision of the OBBB amended PRWORA’s exemptions from its five-year waiting period.”

Payment Error Rate, Exclusionary Period

Another issue cited in the complaint concerns the State Quality Control Incentive provision of the OBBB, under which states have to pay a percentage of the SNAP program if their payment error rate goes above a threshold, according to the complaint.

Before the OBBB, the federal government used to pay the entirety of SNAP benefits. Under the new provision, if a state’s payment error rate is deemed to be between 6 and 8 percent, it must fund 5 percent of the benefits. This scales up as error rates go higher. So, states with error rates at 10 percent or higher will have to fund 15 percent of the benefits.

According to the lawsuit, federal regulations provide a 120-day exclusionary period once a new regulation is introduced. Errors made during this period do not count toward the payment error rate calculation.

The USDA’s Oct. 31 guidance sent to states said that the 120-day exclusionary period ended on Nov. 1, calculated from the date the OBBB went into effect, according to the complaint.

States challenged this application of the exclusionary period.

“The 120-day exclusionary period for the Guidance could start no earlier than October 31, 2025, the date that the implementing Guidance was issued, and end no earlier than 120 days later,” they said.

Preventing Illegals From Accessing Benefits

The USDA told states in an April 24 memo to take steps to ensure that illegal immigrants do not receive SNAP benefits.

States were asked to verify the identity of SNAP applicants, collect their social security numbers, compare these numbers to the federal government’s social security death data, and check whether the applicants are listed in the Department of Homeland Security database as being present in the United States illegally.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks during a news conference in Washington on Oct. 31, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

The memo cited Trump’s Feb. 19 executive order directing the USDA to “enhance eligibility verification systems, to the maximum extent possible, to ensure that taxpayer-funded benefits exclude any ineligible alien who entered the United States illegally or is otherwise unlawfully present in the United States.”

In a Newsmax interview on Nov. 13, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said a USDA audit revealed that SNAP funding was being distributed to almost 186,000 dead people. In another media interview, she said that 500,000 SNAP recipients were receiving payments twice.

She said the 21 states, most of which are Democrat-run, have sued to prevent the federal government from accessing SNAP data.

Roughly 42 million Americans use the SNAP program, receiving $177 per individual per month on average, according to USDA data.

The Epoch Times reached out to the USDA for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.