Trump Administration Cannot Force States to Provide Food Stamp Data: Judge

Officials had threatened to cut off food stamp funding unless states provided records on applicants and recipients.

The Department of Agriculture in Washington on Feb. 17, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

The Trump administration cannot force states to provide data on people who applied for and received food stamps through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a federal judge ruled on Feb. 26.

Demands by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in recent months for records that would enable officials to identify food stamp applicants and recipients, including their names and Social Security numbers, are likely contrary to the law that created and governs SNAP, U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney in California said in a 22-page decision.

USDA officials have cited the law, which says each state agency shall make records it has retained to ensure the program is carried out in a legal manner available for inspection and audit by USDA, “subject to data and security protocols.”

State officials say the USDA has not provided adequate protocols and has not committed to not sharing the data with other agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security. They recently asked Chesney to expand a preliminary injunction that she entered in the fall of 2020 against the USDA efforts.

Chesney sided with the states, which include California, Connecticut, Maryland, and Wisconsin.

Protocols outlined by the government for the data would let the USDA share it with entities other than those covered by the law, “thereby effectively serving as a conduit between Plaintiff States and prohibited entities,” Chesney said.

She said that, absent an expanded injunction, states would suffer irreparable harm given the amount of funds at stake, and that the states appear likely to succeed in the case.

Preliminary injunctions usually remain in place until a case is resolved.

A USDA spokesperson declined to comment on the new ruling.

A close-up shot of a SNAP EBT information sign is displayed at a gas station in Riverwoods, Ill., on Nov. 1, 2025. Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo

In its most recent filing, the government said that states have “weaponized negotiations over reasonable protocols.” It added later: “All-in-all, USDA has jumped through every hoop, and granted every lenience and extension, but must be allowed to carry out the task Congress assigned it in the SNAP Act. It is time Plaintiffs to comply with their legal obligation to provide the requested records to USDA.”

The effort to obtain the records began in early 2025, after Trump signed an order directing agency heads to take steps to make sure his administration has “unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs that receive Federal funding.”

USDA officials have said the records are necessary to verify SNAP recipients’ eligibility by comparing the data against federally maintained databases.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement: “The President has made no secret of his desire to build a mass surveillance database using Americans’ personal, private data. For a second time, we’ve secured a court order rebuffing the Trump Administration’s demands that states turn over data on SNAP recipients. Time and again, the President has broken the law, and time and again, we’ve stopped him in court.”