Today, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) released the following statement responding to threats made by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins at a cabinet meeting.

The secretary threatened to withhold federal funding from states that refused the Trump administration’s illegal demand for access to the sensitive personal information of participants of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for immigration enforcement use. The demand for personal data is being litigated. In September, a U.S. District Court issued a temporary restraining order, blocking USDA’s demand for the plaintiff states to turn over SNAP recipients’ data and preventing USDA from withholding SNAP funding.

Undocumented immigrants and persons otherwise illegally within the United States have never been eligible for SNAP.

“Secretary Rollins continues to spew propaganda, attacking a food assistance program which 42 million Americans rely on to feed their families. Rather than address the rising cost of living, the secretary is once again weaponizing hunger by putting political talking points ahead of feeding seniors, children, veterans and Americans with disabilities. Her disregard for the law and willingness to lie through her teeth comes from the very top – the Trump administration is as corrupt as it is lawless, and I will not sit silently as she carries out the president’s campaign against Americans struggling to afford food in part because of this president’s tariffs and disastrous economic policies.”