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The lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., on Thursday says the U.S.
Department of Agriculture violated federal privacy laws when it
ordered states and vendors to turn over five years of data about
food assistance program applicants and enrollees, including
their names, birth dates, personal addresses and social security
numbers.
The lawsuit “seeks to ensure that the government is not
exploiting our most vulnerable citizens by disregarding
longstanding privacy protections,” National Student Legal
Defense Network attorney Daniel Zibel wrote in the complaint.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center and Mazon Inc.: A
Jewish Response to Hunger joined the four food assistance
recipients in bringing the lawsuit.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is a
social safety net that serves more than 42 million people
nationwide. Under the program formerly known as food stamps, the
federal government pays for 100% of the food benefits but the
states help cover the administrative costs. States also are
responsible for determining whether people are eligible for the
benefits, and for issuing the benefits to enrollees.
As a result, states have lots of highly personal financial,
medical, housing, tax and other information about SNAP
applicants and their dependents, according to the lawsuit.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 20
directing agencies to ensure “unfettered access to comprehensive
data from all state programs” as part of the administration's
effort to stop “ waste, fraud and abuse by eliminating
information silos.”
That order prompted Elon Musk's Department of Government
Efficiency and the USDA to ask states and electronic benefit
vendors to turn over the info earlier this month. Failing to do
so may “trigger noncompliance procedures,” the USDA warned in a
letter to states.
Some states have already turned over the data, including Alaska,
which shared the personal info of more than 70,000 residents,
according to the lawsuit. Other states like Iowa plan to turn
over the information, the plaintiffs say.
They want a judge to declare the data collection unlawful, to
order the USDA to destroy any personal information it already
has, and to bar the agency from punishing states that fail to
turn over the data.
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