CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today highlighted a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that once again recognized that the federal government cannot demand states turn over personal and sensitive information on millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants and recipients without protections for the data. SNAP is a state-administered, federally funded program that provides billions of dollars in food assistance to tens of millions of low-income families across the country.
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“The administration continues to make baseless claims about fighting fraud while at the same time stating this data will be used for another purpose entirely: to further their cruel and draconian immigration policies,” Raoul said. “Illinoisans who signed up for these benefits expected that their personal information would be protected, and I will continue to fight to do just that.”
In July 2025, Attorney General Raoul joined a coalition in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration alleging that the demand for SNAP applicant and recipient data violates federal law. The court agreed that the demand was likely unlawful, highlighting statements the administration made of its intent to disclose and use the demanded data for purposes unrelated to the oversight of federal benefit programs. The court granted a preliminary injunction. Raoul and the coalition returned to court when the Trump administration again threatened to cut off administrative funding to states that do not turn over this data pursuant to a new data and security protocol that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had proposed.
On Thursday, the district court held that the USDA cannot collect states’ records without an agreed-upon protocol. The court also held that the states appropriately rejected the USDA’s proposed protocol because it would have allowed the USDA to share the states’ data with entities unrelated to the administration of federal benefits programs, including the Department of Homeland Security, contrary to federal law.
SNAP applicants provide their private information with the understanding, backed by federal law, that their information will not be used for unrelated purposes. In an attempt to bully states into compliance with its immigration policies, the Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to withhold administrative funding for the program if states fail to comply with its unprecedented demand for data, effectively forcing states to choose between protecting their residents’ privacy and providing critical nutrition assistance to those in need.
Since President Trump reentered the White House in 2025, public reports indicate that federal officials are amassing huge databases of Americans’ personal information and using that data for undisclosed purposes, including immigration enforcement. The USDA’s attempts to collect states’ data about SNAP applicants and recipients appear to be an additional step in this campaign.
Joining Raoul in filing the lawsuit against the USDA are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as the state of Kentucky.
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