Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is part of a federal lawsuit challenging a Trump administration rule that places new demands on states and families receiving food assistance benefits.
The multi-state lawsuit filed Monday by Democratic attorneys general asks a federal judge to block a requirement that states share private information kept on families that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
The federal SNAP program is a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture but administered by states and territories.
The lawsuit claims the Trump administration policy demanding information from states including home addresses and Social Security numbers violates federal privacy protections.
Nessel said the Trump administration cannot mine SNAP records to enforce immigration policy or other efforts unrelated to the nutrition program’s core purpose. She said the policy is clearly aimed at gathering information for immigration enforcement, but will also discourage eligible families from seeking the benefits.
“I think we can all say there’s almost nothing more important than a person’s ability to eat and yet for a lot of people who are eligible for these programs, it’s frightening them because they don’t know what’s going to happen to their information,” she said. “This is unlawful. It’s a violation of privacy and it is a direct threat to health and safety of our state’s most vulnerable residents.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture would not comment on pending litigation.
This is the 26th lawsuit Nessel has joined to challenge Trump administration plans. She is a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging cuts to health research at public universities and in a lawsuit alleging unlawful delegation of presidential authority to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency without U.S. Senate approval.
