According to a complaint filed this week, the Trump administration is attempting to improperly deny lawful permanent residents Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
In July, Congress approved the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act, which changed SNAP eligibility provisions in a variety of ways.
During the height of the government shutdown in late October, the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) subagency Food Nutrition Services (FNS) released instructions interpreting the newly approved omnibus bill. That guidance appears to restrict noncitizen access to SNAP benefits in numerous major ways.
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, alleging that the FNS guidance “errs” in its interpretation of the new statute.
According to the plaintiffs, the crux of the action is the government’s apparent efforts to prevent specific kinds of noncitizens who become green card holders from ever receiving SNAP benefits.
The 28-page complaint provides a condensed history lesson.
Prior to the OBBB going into effect, non-citizens who entered the United States as refugees or were granted asylum were eligible for SNAP, based on their status at the time of their admission or parole. This was also true for many who were granted humanitarian parole. OBBB eliminated these categories of eligibility in the FNA. However, nothing in OBBB prohibits individuals who once held the status of refugees, individuals granted asylum, or parolees from gaining eligibility for SNAP if and when they adjust their status to lawful permanent residents (LPRs).
According to the plaintiffs, immigrants who entered the United States as refugees or asylum seekers “can be eligible for SNAP benefits if they adjust status and become” green card holders, but the Trump administration is working to ensure such immigrants “will never be eligible for SNAP benefits.”
“The Guidance creates a false dichotomy in describing categories of immigration statuses post-OBBB as either ‘Not eligible unless an LPR’ or ‘Not eligible,'” according to the complaint. “Regardless of their previous status, any non-citizen who transitions to LPR status is eligible for SNAP if they meet other legislative conditions. However, the Guidance wrongly places many of these persons in the ‘Not eligible’ category, rather than the ‘Not eligible unless an LPR category’.
The plaintiffs claim the government is “misleadingly” informing certain groups of immigrants that they would never be eligible for SNAP payments.
“In reality, irrespective of someone’s immigration status before becoming an LPR, once they obtain their Green Card, they are eligible for SNAP if they meet other statutory requirements,” the suit continues.
A secondary concern is the quickness with which certain non-citizens can receive SNAP benefits under an ancillary statute known as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA).
According to the lawsuit, green card holders are only eligible for SNAP benefits if they have been in the nation for at least five years, or if they fall within one of “approximately a dozen” defined categories, such as being blind, disabled, or a kid.
However, the government now claims that those waiting period exceptions no longer apply to certain types of green card holders.
The plaintiffs dispute this “clear” misunderstanding of PRWORA, according to the lawsuit.
“PRWORA excludes individuals who were admitted as refugees, granted asylum, had their deportation withheld, and others, from the five-year waiting period,” the lawsuit states. “And no provision of the OBBB amended PRWORA’s exemptions from its five-year waiting period.”
The plaintiffs identified a tertiary issue: a new system for identifying and accounting for errors as envisioned under the FNS advice.
According to a press release from James’ office, the plaintiffs argue that the new system “would saddle states with catastrophic financial penalties unless they immediately implement the unlawful restrictions.”
The OBBB gives states 120 days to review new instructions and weed out noncompliance, according to the lawsuit. However, the Trump administration is attempting to apply the FNS guidance with only one day to account for any such infractions, according to the filing.
“The federal government’s shameful quest to take food away from children and families continues,” James stated. “The USDA has no jurisdiction to arbitrarily exclude entire groups of people from the SNAP program, and no one should go hungry because of the circumstances surrounding their entrance in this country. My office will always fight to defend Americans’ SNAP benefits, and I will do everything in my ability to keep New Yorkers safe from this illegal program.
The Empire State is the principal plaintiff in the lawsuit, with 20 other states. The lawsuit claims repeated violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, the federal statute that governs agency action.
