OAKLAND, Calif. — On Monday, the California Department of Justice’s Office of the Attorney General released a statement regarding the Trump administration’s demand for states to hand over confidential information about recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
According to the press release, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with New York Attorney General Letitia James and 20 other attorneys general, announced they would challenge the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s demand that states provide access to sensitive information about SNAP recipients.
SNAP is a federally funded program that provides food assistance to tens of millions of low-income families across the country, and applicants provide their private information with the understanding that it will not be used for unrelated purposes, the statement explained.
The California DOJ’s press release mentioned that the USDA could withhold funding for the program if states do not comply — effectively forcing states to choose between protecting residents’ privacy and providing nutrition assistance.
The DOJ also noted that California receives about $1 billion a year for the program, and any delay in that funding could have consequences for the state and its residents who rely on SNAP to buy groceries.
“President Trump continues to weaponize private and sensitive personal information – not to root out fraud, but to create a culture of fear where people are unwilling to apply for essential services.” – Attorney General Bonta
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that the USDA’s demands violate both federal privacy laws and the U.S. Constitution, the press release stated.
“President Trump continues to weaponize private and sensitive personal information — not to root out fraud, but to create a culture of fear where people are unwilling to apply for essential services. We’re talking about kids not getting school lunch; fire victims not accessing emergency services; and other devastating, and deadly, consequences. That is Trump’s vision for America,” said Attorney General Bonta.
He continued, “This unprecedented demand that states turn over SNAP data violates all kinds of state and federal privacy laws and further breaks the trust between the federal government and the people it serves. The president doesn’t get to change the rules in the middle of the game, no matter how much he may want to. While he may be comfortable breaking promises to the American people, California is not. We will not comply with this illegal demand. We’ll see the president in court.”
The press release affirmed that SNAP has served as an essential service by acting as a safety net for millions of low-income Americans, providing credits that could be used to put food on the table. In the 60 years this program has been running, the federal government and state agencies have worked together to ensure that only those eligible receive benefits.
The press release mentioned that the USDA itself has described SNAP as having “one of the most rigorous quality control systems in the federal government,” and that those systems have never required federal access to personally identifying information without any restrictions on how that information will be used or shared with other agencies.
Yet in May 2025, the USDA made an unprecedented demand that states give up massive amounts of confidential information on all SNAP applicants and recipients, including Social Security numbers and home addresses, going back five years, the press release commented.
The California DOJ stated that even one year’s worth of data contains sensitive, personal identifying information on tens of millions of individuals — with more than five million in California alone.
The federal government’s justification for this demand is to “prevent fraud and abuse,” which is directly contradicted by their own findings, the press release wrote.
The press release also noted that the USDA’s demand appears to be part of a coordinated effort by the federal government to collect personal information on Americans in order to advance the administration’s agenda.
Public reports have revealed that federal officials are collecting huge databases of personal information on Americans and not disclosing what they’re using that data for, including immigration enforcement, the press release stated.
“Already, the Department of Homeland Security has obtained troves of personal information from both the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Health and Human Services Agency, including private medical information and other personal details on Medicaid recipients, which California has already challenged in court,” the DOJ reported.
The USDA’s demands for states to hand over data about SNAP applicants and recipients appear to be the next step in this campaign, the press release concluded.
The USDA’s unprecedented actions threaten the privacy of millions of Americans and ignore long-established restrictions on the disclosure of SNAP data, the statement asserts. The press release continued, both federal and state law prohibit California from releasing personally identifying SNAP data unless necessary for the program or under other limited circumstances, which do not exist in this case.
According to the DOJ’s statement, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that the USDA’s demands violate multiple federal privacy laws, fail to meet the public comment requirements, exceed USDA’s statutory authority, and violate the Spending Clause.
“The coalition asks that the District Court declare the Trump administration’s demands unlawful and block the Trump administration from conditioning receipt of SNAP funding on states’ compliance with these demands,” the press release said.
Attorney General Bonta of California and Attorney General James of New York will lead the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the state of Kentucky, in filing the lawsuit, the press release concluded.
