LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel won an important preliminary victory in the case to protect the privacy of millions of people throughout the country who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for food assistance, according to a Friday press release from Nessel’s office.

In a lawsuit brought by Nessel and a coalition of 20 other attorneys general and the state of Kentucky, the District Court for the Northern District of California ordered a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from demanding states turn over personal information of all residents who receive SNAP. Nessel and the coalition sued the administration in July, arguing that this highly sensitive data, which includes home addresses, Social Security numbers, recent locations, immigration statuses, and more, would likely be shared across federal agencies and used for immigration enforcement, in violation of the law.

“By trying to illegally seize the personal data of more than a million Michigan residents, the Trump Administration attempted to force families into choosing between protecting their personal identifying information that may be shared for any purpose and eating,” Nessel said. “I am relieved the Court recognized the danger this posed, and I will continue to fight to ensure Michigan families never have to sacrifice their privacy to put food on the table.”

Both federal and state laws prohibit states from disclosing personally identifying SNAP data except under narrow circumstances, the press release explained. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers SNAP, has demanded that states submit personally identifying information, including names, dates of birth, personal addresses, and Social Security numbers, of all SNAP applicants and recipients since January 2020. The USDA has threatened states with potential SNAP funding cuts if they refuse to comply. As a result of USDA’s new demand, states have been put in the impossible position of either violating the law by complying, or protecting their residents’ personal information while jeopardizing millions of dollars in funding used to administer the SNAP program.

While non-citizens are generally not eligible for SNAP benefits, federal law allows non-citizen parents to apply for SNAP benefits on behalf of their citizen children. Michigan’s program provides approximately $254 million in SNAP benefits per month on average to vulnerable families, with an average of approximately 1,418,000 recipients, according to the press release.

In a temporary restraining order, the District Court temporarily blocked USDA’s demand for the plaintiff states to turn over SNAP recipients’ data and prevented USDA from withholding SNAP funding.

Joining Nessel in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the state of Kentucky.