Democratic attorneys general sue to block USDA guidance that makes some immigrants ineligible for SNAP benefits

By Alison Main, Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — A coalition of 21 attorneys general sued the US Department of Agriculture on Wednesday in an effort to block recent guidance from the agency that declared some immigrants, including refugees and those granted asylum, ineligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the coalition of other Democratic attorneys general, said in a statement that the Trump administration is illegally cutting off the benefits — also known as food stamps — for tens of thousands of lawful permanent residents.

“The federal government’s shameful quest to take food away from children and families continues,” James said in the statement. “USDA has no authority to arbitrarily cut entire groups of people out of the SNAP program, and no one should go hungry because of the circumstances of their arrival to this country.”

The attorney general from Washington, DC, and the following states joined in on the lawsuit: Oregon, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

On October 31, the USDA provided new guidance to states narrowing SNAP eligibility, aligning with rollbacks of the program outlined in President Donald Trump’s domestic policy law that passed earlier this year.

The attorneys general argue in the lawsuit that the memo goes beyond what the law prescribes since it would make anyone who entered the country through humanitarian protection programs permanently ineligible for food stamps, even if they become legal residents.

According to the lawsuit, some immigrant groups are exempt from the rule that requires lawful permanent residents to have lived in the US for five years before receiving benefits.

“The problem is that the Guidance lists some, but not all, of the conditions that render an (lawful permanent resident) immediately eligible for SNAP without a five-year waiting period,” the attorneys general said in the lawsuit. “It omits key categories of Humanitarian Immigrant Groups, like Refugees and Individuals Granted Asylum.”

Some groups that are exempt from the waiting period but not listed in the guidance include “Certain Afghan and Ukrainian Parolees, Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrants (SIV), and Victims of Severe Trafficking,” according to the lawsuit.

The group of attorneys general warn that the USDA’s guidance, which prompts a swift overhaul of eligibility systems, “threatens to destabilize SNAP nationwide,” and could put significant financial strain on states that would have to shoulder the cost of fines.

The attorneys general also slammed the USDA for starting the 120-day exclusion period for the guidance on the day Trump’s policy law went into effect instead of the day the agency issued the guidance. The 120-day period expired on November 1 — just one day after the guidance was sent to the states, they said.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge in Oregon to vacate and block the implementation of the USDA’s guidance.

A spokesperson for USDA declined to comment on “pending litigation.”

Prior to the lawsuit, James and other attorneys general asked the USDA last week to “correct” the guidance and provide “clarity on SNAP eligibility,” to which the agency didn’t respond, Wednesday’s statement said.

The filing comes just days after a federal judge in Virginia dismissed an indictment against James, whom Trump has viewed as a political opponent.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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