Food aid will continue flowing into Minnesota after a federal judge ruled against demands by President Donald Trump’s administration that state officials verify residents’ eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The U.S. District Court for Minnesota announced an injunction against the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Jan. 14. It pauses the Dec. 16 demands by the USDA, which ordered Minnesota to interview within a month around 100,000 households to verify their eligibility for the program.
Federal officials vowed to cut SNAP funding across Minnesota if state officials failed to meet those demands, threatening to stop food supplies for an estimated 440,000 Minnesotans who receive SNAP benefits each month. Nearly half of the program’s recipients are children.
“We have won yet another battle in the Trump administration’s war on Minnesota,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. “Before any of us in the state are Republicans or Democrats, we are Minnesotans, and it should shock and disgust us that this president is trying to take food off the table of half a million of our neighbors.”
Volunteers and aid groups scrambled to feed residents across Minnesota as federal officials announced aid would dry up, leaving people at risk of going hungry vulnerable. New eligibility rules added hurdles for Minnesotans dealing with hourslong lines and less than a million pounds of food available.
Aid groups have called on residents for help, asking volunteers to donate time and resources to help food shelves struggling with years of unprecedented demand.
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