Attorney General Ellison wins court order protecting SNAP recipients’ sensitive personal information

AG Ellison and 21 other states sued to stop Trump Administration’s illegal demand for millions of SNAP recipients’ data to use for immigration enforcement

September 19, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Attorney General Ellison won an important victory in the case to protect the privacy of millions of people throughout the country who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for food assistance. In a lawsuit brought by Attorney General Ellison and a coalition of 20 other attorneys general and the state of Kentucky, the District Court for the Northern District of California ordered a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from demanding states turn over personal information of all residents who receive SNAP. Attorney General Ellison and the coalition sued the administration in July, arguing that this highly sensitive data, which includes home addresses, Social Security numbers, recent locations, immigration statuses, and more, would likely be shared across federal agencies and used for immigration enforcement, in violation of the law. 

"The Trump Administration’s demand for highly sensitive information on every SNAP applicant in Minnesota is deeply troubling, and I am pleased to have won a court order temporarily blocking that action,” said Attorney General Ellison. “If Minnesota complied with this request, the information we shared could be used to harm people in our state. If Minnesota refused, the Trump Administration threatened to cut funding used to feed low-income families. This was an impossible choice, and I am glad we are no longer faced with it for the time being. I will continue fighting this unlawful demand, standing up for the rule of law, and protecting Minnesotans from federal overreach.”

Both federal and state laws prohibit states from disclosing personally identifying SNAP data except under narrow circumstances. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers SNAP, has requested that states submit personally identifying information, including names, dates of birth, personal addresses, and Social Security numbers, of all SNAP applicants and recipients since January 2020. The USDA has threatened states with potential SNAP funding cuts if they refuse to comply. As a result of USDA’s new demand, states have been put in the difficult position of either violating the law by complying, or protecting their residents’ personal information while jeopardizing millions of dollars in funding used to administer the SNAP program.

While non-citizens are generally not eligible for SNAP benefits, federal law allows non-citizen parents to apply for SNAP benefits on behalf of their citizen children. Minnesota receives roughly $1.4 billion a year in order to administer the program to over 400,000 Minnesotans, and a cut in that funding would cause severe harm to the Minnesotans who rely on SNAP to put food on the table.

In a temporary restraining order, the District Court blocked USDA’s demand for the plaintiff states to turn over SNAP recipients’ data and prevented USDA from withholding SNAP funding. 

Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the state of Kentucky.