Trump Admin Hostility Towards SNAP Continues in Face of Court Orders
December 3, 2025 — During a Trump administration Cabinet meeting yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that she will withhold food assistance funding from states who have refused to follow a legally dubious order to hand over the private information of SNAP recipients. Leaders from the national anti-hunger advocacy nonprofit MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, which filed suit earlier this year to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from collecting this information, slammed the dangerous rhetoric as yet another assault on food insecure Americans.
MAZON President & CEO Abby J. Leibman stated:
“From day one of this administration, President Trump, Secretary Rollins, and their entire collection of cronies have shown nothing but contempt for food assistance programs and the millions of Americans who utilize them. This is just the latest example of their cruelty, their disregard for court orders, and their disrespect for Congressional authority. Despite an order from a federal judge barring exactly this type of retaliation, Rollins is using her bully pulpit to threaten states that she will withhold Congressionally appropriated funds. Her behavior is both morally and legally contemptuous.
“As we said when we initially filed suit to challenge USDA’s effort to get states and third-party vendors to turn over the personal data of SNAP recipients, the Trump administration’s desire to exploit and surveil those struggling with food insecurity is simply beyond the pale. When SNAP recipients give their private information to a state, they do so under a promise that it will only be used to help them buy groceries, not to be shared with those who have no right — let alone the need — to access their private data.
“MAZON will keep fighting against these persistent attacks on vital food assistance programs. We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that hungry Americans do not have to choose between their right to privacy and putting food on their tables.”
Earlier this year, following reports that USDA ordered state agencies and private contractors to turn over detailed personal information from SNAP recipients, MAZON filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging USDA’s demand for the personal information — including social security numbers, employment history, home addresses, and potentially even citizenship status — of millions of Americans who receive food assistance. MAZON, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and several individual plaintiffs are represented by Protect Democracy, Student Defense, and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. Shortly thereafter, 21 states and the District of Columbia challenged the same action and were granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the administration from withholding funds from states that refused to hand over the requested data — this injunction remains in effect.