By suzanne downing 
US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins posted on X this weekend about the Department of Agriculture’s continued effort to enforce federal laws barring undocumented immigrants from accessing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, known by many as food stamps.
Her message came as the nation entered its second day without SNAP payments due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, due to Democrats in Congress blocking the passage of funding.
Rollins has made ANAP eligibility enforcement a centerpiece of her tenure. She said her investigation has found “thousands upon thousands” of cases of illegal acquisition of SNAP benefits.
On my first day @USDA, we told every state to send us their SNAP data so we could make sure illegal immigrants aren’t getting benefits meant for American families. 29 states stepped up. 21 blue states refused — and two SUED US FOR ASKING! 🤦🏻♀️
And guess what? In just the states… pic.twitter.com/W7ha0Le1eN
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) November 2, 2025
The USDA says SNAP’s improper payment rate in 2023 reached $10.5 billion, or roughly 12 percent of total benefits paid. To address this, Rollins ordered the Food and Nutrition Service in February to enforce the 1996 welfare reform law barring illegal immigrants from federal food assistance.
By April, the USDA issued new guidance to all 50 states requiring stricter identity checks and immigration verification through the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE system.
In May, the agency expanded data-sharing requirements to include names, Social Security numbers, and addresses from both state agencies and third-party electronic benefit processors going back five years.
Some states led by Democrats refused. By July 19, the USDA had given states until the end of the month to submit their SNAP data, warning of potential funding consequences for noncompliance. That same month, the department tied its benefit integrity campaign to national security concerns, releasing a new tool tracking foreign ownership of American farmland.
Rollins says 29 states, mostly Republican-led with two Democratic exceptions (Colorado and North Carolina) cooperated by the July deadline. The remaining 21 states, largely Democratic, refused on grounds of privacy and state sovereignty, and at least four have sued the USDA: California, New York, Oregon, and Washington. The lawsuits say that USDA’s actions exceed its authority and risk misuse of data for immigration enforcement.
In states that cooperated, audits reportedly uncovered extensive fraud.
Early investigations in 2025 found patterns similar to those in the Government Accountability Office’s 2023 report, including billions in improper payments and ineligible recipients. Federal agents have made dozens of arrests for multi-state benefit trafficking and identity theft, including one case involving $66 million in stolen benefits.
Rollins has linked many of the problems to weak oversight in sanctuary cities and a lack of coordination among federal and state agencies.
Critics point out that undocumented immigrants are already ineligible for SNAP under federal law, but loopholes in household applications, especially those involving US-born children, have allowed indirect access to benefits. Rollins has countered that fragmented data systems and lax enforcement have created widespread abuse.
The USDA’s anti-fraud campaign now coincides with the broader budget crisis. The government shutdown that began in late October has suspended SNAP funding since November 1, leaving millions of eligible families without benefits. With Senate Democrats blocking spending bills more than a dozen times, the standoff has deepened the pressure on both sides.
Rollins’ initiative stems from Trump’s executive orders earlier this year, particularly EO 14218, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders” issued Feb. 19, and EO 14243, “Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos” issued March 20. Both directives require tighter verification of citizenship and immigration status and increased data sharing between agencies to detect fraud.
SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
Only the conservatives would use starvation as a political weapon.
You are kind of missing the point, PDB, which is obvious to most: Fraud, waste, and abuse are rampant in SNAP and Democrats are the worst offenders. Plus, Democrats now voted 13 times to keep the shutdown going, so whose wielding the weapon here? Democrats. Sad.
DOGE, under the careful guidance of Rev. Elon Musk, eliminated 92% of waste, fraud and abuse. That’s what he said anyway.
Put down your crack pipe.