Court Blocks Data Grab: Attorney General Bonta Secures Order Halting Trump Administration’s Push to Use SNAP Information for Mass Surveillance Agenda

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today secured a preliminary injunction from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California temporarily blocking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s demand that states turn over personal and sensitive information about millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients. This July, Attorney General Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration alleging that this demand violates multiple federal laws and the U.S. Constitution. 

“Let’s be crystal clear: The President is trying to hijack a nutrition program to fuel his mass surveillance agenda,” said Attorney General Bonta. “We won’t let that happen — not on our watch, and not in our communities. 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. We will continue to vigorously litigate this lawsuit and defend our communities, protect privacy, and ensure that SNAP remains a tool for fighting hunger — not a weapon for political targeting.”

SNAP is a federally funded, state-administered program that provides billions of dollars in food assistance to tens of millions of low-income families across the country. SNAP applicants provide their private information on the understanding, backed by long-standing state and federal laws, that their information will not be used for unrelated purposes. In an attempt to bully states into compliance, USDA 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. California receives over $1 billion a year to administer the program, and any delay in that funding could be catastrophic for the state and its residents who rely on SNAP to put food on the table.

A copy of the order is available here.