Democrat Ags Sue Trump on efforts to use Snap to locate migrants

The Prosecutor General of New York, Letitia James, said on Monday that she was helping to lead a group of 20 prosecutors General Democrats in the pursuit of the Trump administration about his requirements to submit information on the recipients of food coupons and candidates in their state – an effort which she has excrupted as a dangerous and illegal immigrants “by the administration to locate illegally and track down immigrants illegal.

The trial, led by James, the California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, and the Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel, intervene after the demanding states of the Trump administration refer detailed personal information related to the beneficiaries and candidates of the additional nutritional aid program, or SNAP, before July 30.

The Trump administration has threatened to retain the SNAP funding for states that do not comply on the deadline of July 30 – listed by the Court of the Court with high issues and the eleventh hour between Trump officials and the leaders of 20 States led by Democrats.

Speaking to journalists during a press call on Monday, James and other general prosecutors took shade with the new Snap data sharing requirement, describing it as an “illegal data entry” designed to intimidate vulnerable communities and help find migrants that could be subject to deportation.

“This administration is trying to use this program as a tool in their cruel and chaotic targeting of immigrants,” said James.

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New York Prosecutor General Letitia James speaks at a press conference on September 21, 2022, in New York. (AP photo / Brittainy Newman, file)

The trial is not the first time that James, a longtime enemy of Trump, fell against Trump in court since the start of his second presidential term.

To date, she has joined the Democratic general prosecutors in more than a dozen other proceedings contesting her first actions.

Bonta, for its part, described new USDA requests as a cruel bait and switch from the Trump administration.

He noted that the data that the administration is trying to operate comes from a several decades old aid program designed to guarantee that low -income families have access to food.

“SNAP beneficiaries provided this information to get help to feed their families – without entering a government surveillance database or being used as a target for the president’s inhuman immigration program,” said Bonta on Tuesday.

“This type of targeting does not make America safer. It threatens children’s access to school meals, it endangers access to survivors of forest fires,” he added.

“And that sends a scary message: if you make help, you can be punished for it.”

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The California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at a press conference in Gemperle Orchard on April 16, 2025 in Ceres, California. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

The trio also rejected the assertion that the USDA’s request for additional SNAP data, announced for the first time in March, was made under the pretext of helping to eliminate “waste and fraud” within the federal government, which did nothing that the SNAP program has historically have “very low fraud rate”.

On the contrary, the Democratic prosecutors have described the request for information as an “illegal” attempt downright “from the Trump administration to illegally obtain personal information on immigrants living in their states.

They noted that, in addition to threatening to retain Snap funds, Trump officials have expanded the amount of data that states are required to submit to the program.

The new USDA request, Released last weekRequire that states provide a list of people who have applied or currently receive SnAP services, in addition to other information such as a list of their immigration statutes in the United States, and information, including their matrimonial statutes, their residential and postal addresses and the history of education and employment, among others.

Each of the Attorney Generals said on Monday that the program would force them to share the personal information of millions of residents in their states, dating from 2020 and by bypassing the federal laws which dictates how this information can be used.

“It’s not for research,” said James. “They mainly try to arm the SNAP program against immigrant communities, in violation of the law.”

California Prosecutor General Rob Bonta, for his part, described the thrust of the administration as an attempt to “track down” and obtain personal information for millions of residents in their states.

“They bypass legal procedures, ignore the protection of privacy and require data which, explicitly, can only be used to administer the SNAP program,” said Bonta, noting that they “ignored hundreds of public comments indicating the main defects of government plans”.

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Trump’s USDA moves to make sure that illegal immigrants do not receive food coupons. (AP / Getty)

The trial comes as James and other States led by Democrats have targeted the policy objectives and the decrees of Trump’s policy in justice, which they describe as excessive and unconstitutional.

Since its inauguration in January, Bonta has noted, the States led by Democrats have filed 35 prosecution against the Trump administration.

Bonta said on Monday that the USDA requirement is a “clear violation” of the “expenditure clause, federal statutes of confidentiality and the own authority of the USDA”, encouraging them to file a complaint.

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“President Trump made promises to the American people and now he breaks them,” the group said on Monday.

“He rewrites the rules, targeting the most vulnerable states and expects states to get online.”