21 Democratic attorneys general have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging the U.S. Department of, Agriculture’s new guidance that classifies certain immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, as permanently ineligible for SNAP benefits. The lawsuit, filed in Oregon, seeks to block the guidance, which the attorneys general argue misinterprets a provision in the Big Beautiful Bill and threatens to destabilize the program nationwide.
The new USDA guidance, published in a memo late last month, narrows the eligibility criteria for SNAP, which provides food assistance to over 40 million Americans each month. The attorneys general claim the guidance incorrectly classifies individuals who have become lawful permanent residents as ineligible, despite the law requiring them to be eligible once they meet standard program requirements.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta described the guidance as reading ‘like someone took notes from the Grinch,’ criticizing the USDA’s misapplication of its own regulations. The attorneys general estimate that tens of thousands of individuals, including over 30,000 in New York, will be affected by the changes. They argue the guidance imposes errors on states with virtually no time to implement them, creating a patchwork system of benefits that risks destabilizing the program.
The lawsuit requests an emergency injunction from a federal judge in Oregon to block the guidance, warning that the changes could result in financial harm to states and jeopardize food access for eligible individuals. The attorneys general are also challenging the USDA’s decision to publish the narrower guidance just four months after the spending bill was signed into law, leaving states with only one day to comply with the changes.