Since late July, most Democratic-led states have refused to give in to an unprecedented demand from the Trump administration to turn over personal information on federal food assistance recipients going back to 2020, including their names, dates of birth, home addresses, Social Security numbers and benefits amounts.
Yet most states with a Republican governor have already complied. NPR's reporting found at least 27 states have already shared data on millions of people who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP.
Each month, close to 42 million Americans rely on SNAP, which used to be known as food stamps. The U.S. Department of Agriculture framed the data demand as necessary to accomplish the Trump administration's goal of identifying and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse.
Democratic state officials have argued the data demand is unlawful and likely part of a pattern of the Trump administration aggregating Americans' personal data for purposes that include immigration enforcement.
Those states won a victory in court on Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney in San Francisco issued a preliminary order blocking the Trump administration from punishing them for refusing to turn over SNAP data.
The ruling means as the case continues, the Trump administration cannot legally follow through with threats to withhold SNAP administrative funds that add up to billions of dollars annually from 21 states and the District of Columbia that are parties to the lawsuit and have not shared the data.
Chesney wrote in her 25-page order the states are likely to succeed in their claim that "USDA, in demanding such data, acted in a manner contrary to law," and "states are likely to show the SNAP Act prohibits them from disclosing to USDA the information demanded."
The Wednesday order reinforced a temporary restraining order Chesney issued last month.
"Let's be crystal clear: The President is trying to hijack a nutrition program to fuel his mass surveillance agenda," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement in response to the court's order. "The Trump Administration can try all it wants to strong arm states into illegally handing over data, but we know the rule of law is on our side."
Neither the USDA or the Justice Department, which represents the agency in the lawsuit, responded to NPR's request for comment.
The controversy over SNAP recipients' data comes as the program is facing its deepest cut in history, as well as changes in eligibility requirements and more costs for states that were prescribed in the tax and spending bill Trump signed in July.
An unprecedented data demand
USDA notified states in May they would be required for the first time to turn over SNAP recipients' personal data going back to 2020. The agency cited an executive order President Donald Trump signed in March that says federal agencies should ensure the federal government has "unfettered access" to data from state programs that receive federal funds to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.
In the past, the federal government audited and sampled state data without collecting and centralizing applicants' personal information. Federal law dictates SNAP recipients' data can only be used for purposes relating to SNAP administration, with only narrow exceptions.
But questions remain about the Trump administration plans and whether SNAP data will be used to further the goal of tracking immigrants and ramping up deportations. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for SNAP, but parents of U.S. citizens can sign up for benefits for their children regardless of their own immigration status.
An official with Pennsylvania's Department of Human Services wrote in court filings that her state agency tried to negotiate a data sharing agreement with USDA, but "USDA would not answer [the state agency's] questions about how USDA intended to use the data, how or when the data would be shared with other federal agencies, or what security protocols would apply if the data is shared with other federal agencies."
The USDA threatened states that did not comply that they would not receive federal funds they rely on to administer SNAP.
Philip Rocco, a political scientist at Marquette University, said the Trump administration's data demands and threats to withhold funds are "so out of line with professional norms for how federal-state relationships work, that it represents a really striking contrast to a longstanding pattern of relationship between federal and state agencies."
States are also sparring with the Trump administration in federal court over Department of Justice demands for state voter roll data, as well as over federal health officials' decision to share states' Medicaid data with the Department of Homeland Security without states' consent.
Data from millions shared already
Most Republican-led states have completed the SNAP data transfer, as did North Carolina, which has a Democratic governor. Eight states relayed to NPR the data fields they shared and the answers varied by state.
Vermont officials told NPR they sent SNAP recipients' names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and home addresses going back to Jan. 2020, while the other states that responded sent those data fields and more.
Nebraska submitted 12.5 million lines of data for more than 437,500 people that also included information about income, household size, utility costs and child support deductions, among other details, according to information provided by Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services to NPR in a public records request.
Ohio sent data for approximately 3.1 million individuals and Texas for more than 3.7 million people, officials from both states told NPR.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota,, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming also complied with the data transfer by Aug. 12, according to USDA's court filings.
NPR separately was informed by officials in Idaho, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee that they had either complied or were in process. Florida officials did not respond to NPR's questions about whether the state had shared data.
The 27 states that complied or are in process had more than 15.7 million people enrolled in SNAP in May, according to USDA data, or close to 38% of the program's total enrollment.
What USDA says about how it is using state data
In a public notice USDA published in June about its data collection plan, it afforded itself broad authority to share SNAP data, such as when a record "indicates a violation or potential violation of law" to disclose it "to the appropriate agency, whether Federal, foreign, State, local, or tribal."
Chesney, the federal judge in the lawsuit, wrote in her order that such uses of the data were "well beyond those permitted" under federal law.
What is known so far is that USDA is running SNAP recipients' information through a Department of Homeland Security data system known as SAVE, according to statements made by USDA official Shiela Corley in court filings. SAVE originally was developed to check the immigration status of foreign-born individuals to verify their eligibility for certain benefits.
The Trump administration recently overhauled SAVE so it can also verify the citizenship of many U.S.-born citizens and show if Social Security records list the person as deceased. (The SAVE changes are also the subject of a recent lawsuit).
USDA has not yet disclosed its findings from SAVE. Corley did describe in court filings other results of a preliminary review of state data. She wrote USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) had found "several types of fraud, waste and abuse that has gone undetected before FNS obtained data of the kind that plaintiff states are withholding."
The review found households receiving multiple payments, 300,000 "potential instances of deceased individuals" enrolled in SNAP, nearly 4,000 individuals who had been disqualified from SNAP who were still receiving benefits, and over 500,000 instances of "dummy" Social Security numbers, according to Corley.
But officials from California and Illinois responded in court filings that Corley's analysis was lacking in key details and context to be able to draw conclusions, and that there could be legitimate explanations for much of what she described. Additionally, a tool known as the National Accuracy Clearinghouse is rolling out to prevent people from receiving SNAP benefits in multiple states.
Concerns of wrongful allegations of fraud
One Vermont resident who relies on SNAP and receives disability because a health condition makes her unable to work, told NPR she felt let down that her governor had agreed to turn over her data since she doesn't trust what the federal government will do with it or that it will remain secure.
She spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity because she feared government retaliation for her comments, including losing her benefits.
She said she already was "terrified" she or a case worker would make a minor paperwork mistake with her benefits that could result in punishment like fines or worse, and now worries USDA could use the new data to wrongfully accuse her and other SNAP recipients of fraud.
"I've never not been living in fear of the system supporting me because there have already been such huge penalties for making mistakes," the SNAP recipient said.
She said she was skeptical that the government's main objective is to use SNAP data to cut wasteful spending given that the administration has extended cut taxes for the wealthy as well as halted efforts to shut down tax shelters used by the country's richest people and large companies.
"It's not about preventing waste, no way," she said. "Because we're pennies to the dollar."
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