Attorney General James Wins Court Order Protecting SNAP Recipients’ Sensitive Personal Information

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James won an important victory in her 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 James 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 James 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.

“No one should have to fear that the assistance they rely on to put food on the table will be used against them by this administration,” said Attorney General James. “Today’s decision is a critical victory in our efforts to protect the privacy of millions of vulnerable people. I will continue to fight to ensure New York families can get access to the food assistance they need without fearing for their safety.”

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 impossible 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. In May 2025, approximately 1.7 million New York households, representing over 2.9 million individuals, participated in SNAP. Nearly one million of those individuals were children.

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