California filed its 35th lawsuit this year against the Trump administration on Monday. This new case is in response to an order from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which told states to turn over five years of personal data on people who get food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. That includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers and more. The deadline is July 30. California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the order “an illegal data grab” and said the state will not comply.
The USDA says it needs the data to help detect fraud and make sure people aren’t getting benefits in more than one state. But California and 19 other states argue that the USDA already has tools to do that. They say asking for all that personal information could scare people away from applying for help—especially families that include immigrants with different legal statuses.
Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel, who joined the lawsuit, said the USDA’s order “sends a chilling effect” that might stop families from getting the food assistance they’re legally allowed to have.
In California, SNAP is called CalFresh. About 5 million people in the state use it to help buy groceries, and the program moves around $12 billion through the economy each year. California also gets about $1.3 billion in federal money to run the program. If the state refuses to give the data, that funding could be at risk.
In far-northeastern California, the program is especially important. According to 2022 data:
- 8,473 people in Siskiyou County used CalFresh
- 3,848 in Lassen County
- 1,797 in Modoc County
The USDA has not said much publicly about the lawsuit. But a notice sent in May warned states that they could lose future grant money if they don’t meet the deadline. Privacy experts argue that federal law only allows data sharing when it’s directly tied to running the program—and that this new demand goes too far.
This lawsuit is part of a larger pattern. Earlier this year, California sued the Trump administration over an order to end birthright citizenship, a rule requiring citizenship documents to register to vote, cuts to the AmeriCorps program, and the sudden shutdown of FEMA grants that help communities prepare for disasters like fires and floods.
For families in the North State, officials say there’s no change in how CalFresh works right now. EBT cards still function as usual, and no extra paperwork is required. Anyone with questions contact their local social services office. If people are worried about how their personal data might be used, legal aid groups recommend speaking to a trusted advisor before dropping out of the program.
California has asked the court for an emergency order to stop the USDA deadline. As of now, no court hearing date has been announced.
