New Mexico plans to challenge Trump administration request for personal SNAP data

SANTA FE — New Mexico is bracing for a showdown with President Donald Trump’s administration over the federal government’s threat to withhold food assistance funding if the state doesn’t turn over personal information about recipients.

State officials were asked by the Trump administration last week to provide five years’ worth of data about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, recipients within seven days, according to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office.

The Governor’s Office described the request, which was also sent to other Democratic-controlled states, as “setting states up to fail.”

“The timing of this demand for five years’ worth of documents, just a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday, was not a mere coincidence,” said Michael Coleman, the governor’s spokesman.

New Mexico and about 20 other states filed a lawsuit this summer, leading a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction in October barring a federal agency from cutting off administrative SNAP funding to states based on their refusal to share recipients’ personal information. At least 27 states with Republican governors have reportedly agreed to turn over the data.

The new warning, confirmed by the Trump administration this week, could prompt a fresh legal battle.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Raúl Torrez said Wednesday New Mexico is working with other states on a response to the Trump administration request, which was delivered with the warning that funding to run the food assistance program will be withheld starting next week for states that do not comply.

“We recognize the importance of SNAP benefits for working families in New Mexico and are committed to continuing our fight to ensure its availability for New Mexicans who rely on it to provide for their families,” said Chelsea Pitvorec, the deputy communications director for the New Mexico Department of Justice.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said this week the names and immigration status of food assistance recipients are needed to root out fraud in the food aid program.

But New Mexico and other Democratic states have argued they already verify the eligibility of SNAP recipients and should not be required to share large amounts of sensitive personal data with the federal government.

The data request marks the latest salvo in an ongoing political tug-of-war that has put food assistance for New Mexico’s nearly 460,000 SNAP recipients — or about 21% of the state’s population — in limbo.

During a 43-day federal government shutdown, Lujan Grisham authorized the spending of $30 million in state funds to cover the cost of SNAP benefits for a 10-day period.

Once that funding was depleted, the governor called lawmakers back to Santa Fe for a special session, during which legislators passed a bill authorizing up to $162 million in additional funding to keep benefits in place through mid-January.

While the end of the government shutdown on Nov. 12 averted the immediate need for that money to be spent, the funding could be available as a stopgap to cover any withheld funds over the next month or so, the Governor’s Office said Wednesday.

Under SNAP, states run the food assistance program while the federal government pays for benefits. But some states, including New Mexico, could face a cost-sharing requirement due to their elevated error rates under a federal budget bill signed by Trump in July.

State Health Care Authority Secretary Kari Armijo has said the state is working to lower its error rate, which was the nation’s fourth-highest at 14.6% as of last year, according to federal data. The error rate refers to accidental overpayments or underpayments of benefits, but does not include fraud or theft.

Meanwhile, members of New Mexico’s all-Democratic congressional delegation sent a letter to federal officials this week demanding the state be reimbursed for the $30 million in stopgap food assistance funding.

The letter, signed by all five members of the state’s delegation, said no state should have to “raid their own budgets” to fix a problem created by the federal government.