Judge blocks USDA from collecting data about SNAP applicants in 21 states

A judge has temporarily barred the federal executive from collecting personal information about residents enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Venture in states and Washington D C U S District Judge Maxine Chesney in California issued the temporary restraining order against the U S Department of Agriculture on Thursday and disclosed a hearing would be held next month to determine if a longer-term prohibition is necessary Chesney revealed that states were likely to succeed in their argument that the personal material can only be used for things like administering the food assistance venture and that it generally can t be shared with other entities The states commented they feared that the records would be used to aid mass deportation efforts The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Project or SNAP is a social safety net that serves more than million people nationwide Under the scheme formerly known as food stamps the federal establishment pays of the food benefits while the states determine who is eligible for the benefits and then issue them to enrollees The Trump administration has worked to collect content on millions of U S residents through various federal agencies including the Internal Revenue Amenity and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sharing the information with the Department of Homeland Shield to assistance deportation efforts The USDA warned states in July that if they failed to turn over the information about people enrolled in the federal food assistance undertaking SNAP funding would be cut off In response the coalition of states sued saying they feared the information would be used to aid mass deportations They informed the judge that the federal SNAP Act requires states to safeguard the information they receive from SNAP applicants only releasing it for limited purposes related to administering or enforcing the food assistance activity In Thursday s ruling Chesney explained the states argument was likely to succeed and that the USDA had already disclosed it planned to share the information with other entities and use it for purposes not allowed by the SNAP Act President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March directing agencies to ensure unfettered access to comprehensive evidence from all state programs as part of the administration s effort to stop waste fraud and abuse by eliminating information silos The development is at least the second lawsuit filed over the USDA s attempt to collect SNAP information Privacy and hunger relief groups and a handful of people receiving food assistance benefits filed a similar lawsuit in Washington D C in May but the federal judge in that occurrence declined to issue a preliminary injunction to stop the records collection Certain states have already turned over the statistics Associated Press reporter Kimberly Kindy contributed Source