By Liz Nass
Gongwer News Service
Attorney General Dana Nessel is co-leading her 26th lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his administration based on a request for data on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program users.
Nessel held a press conference on Monday along with other co-leaders California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The lawsuit will be filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by 20 attorneys general based on a request for personal data on SNAP users from the past five years that Nessel called unlawful, a violation of privacy and and “a direct threat to health and safety of our state's most vulnerable residents.”
Nessel said state funding is being threatened to be withheld iif the states do not comply with the request date of July 30.
While the administration claimed this information was needed to fight fraud in the system, Nessel said this is about sharing information with immigration enforcement. She said there was a large different between “protecting program integrity and violating people's rights,” the SNAP documentation sharing more than tax forms with the government.
“We will not allow this administration to trample on the constitutional protections or unlawfully exploit the SNAP program to advance their political agenda,” Nessel said at the press conference. “Our personal data is exactly that, personal, and this data should remain confidential, protected and only used by agencies involved with SNAP recipients. Michigan families deserve this protection, and I'm going to keep on fighting until they receive exactly that.”
The attorneys general said that a preliminary injunction is set forth in the complaint due to the turnaround of this request date.
Nessel said it is a balancing act between having 1.4 million people in the state that receive SNAP funding being cut off, which provides around $254 million in benefits per month, or having their privacy violated.
“It is very frightening, and it's horrific to me, and I'm deeply concerned about what's happening with that information, and not just that it's being used for immigration purposes, but God knows what else it's being used for,” Nessel said.
She said that this is clearly targeting immigrant communities, and this will create a trend of immigrant families being too afraid to get food for their children that are 100% eligible for benefits then, finding it “sickening” that they would try to take the money that belongs to the state that they already paid for.
Nessel also called out the budget standoff in the House, saying that while there are these arguments about how to pay for road funding and makeup for the loss of Medicaid, she is saving Michigan around $1.6 billion in funding these programs.
She said she had two words to the state Legislature that is “still arguing about financial issues”: “you're welcome.”
Nessel relieved by federal court ruling on birthright citizenship: Nessel also released a statement on the United States District Courtfor the District of Massachusetts's decisions to maintain a nationwide injunction on birthright citizenship.
The court ruled on the action on the lawsuit from Nessel and 19 other attorneys general to defend birthright citizenship, saying there was “no workable, narrower alternative to the injunction issued originally would provide complete relief to the plaintiffs in this case.”
“I am relieved that the Court recognized the need to uphold birthright citizenship across the country for all Americans, a fundamental protection that has been clearly enshrined in our Constitution for more than 150 years,” Nessel said in a statement. “Every person born on U.S. soil is entitled to equal protection under the law, and I remain committed to defending the constitutional rights of newly born Americans.”
Gongwer News Service
Attorney General Dana Nessel is co-leading her 26th lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his administration based on a request for data on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program users.
Nessel held a press conference on Monday along with other co-leaders California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The lawsuit will be filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by 20 attorneys general based on a request for personal data on SNAP users from the past five years that Nessel called unlawful, a violation of privacy and and “a direct threat to health and safety of our state's most vulnerable residents.”
Nessel said state funding is being threatened to be withheld iif the states do not comply with the request date of July 30.
While the administration claimed this information was needed to fight fraud in the system, Nessel said this is about sharing information with immigration enforcement. She said there was a large different between “protecting program integrity and violating people's rights,” the SNAP documentation sharing more than tax forms with the government.
“We will not allow this administration to trample on the constitutional protections or unlawfully exploit the SNAP program to advance their political agenda,” Nessel said at the press conference. “Our personal data is exactly that, personal, and this data should remain confidential, protected and only used by agencies involved with SNAP recipients. Michigan families deserve this protection, and I'm going to keep on fighting until they receive exactly that.”
The attorneys general said that a preliminary injunction is set forth in the complaint due to the turnaround of this request date.
Nessel said it is a balancing act between having 1.4 million people in the state that receive SNAP funding being cut off, which provides around $254 million in benefits per month, or having their privacy violated.
“It is very frightening, and it's horrific to me, and I'm deeply concerned about what's happening with that information, and not just that it's being used for immigration purposes, but God knows what else it's being used for,” Nessel said.
She said that this is clearly targeting immigrant communities, and this will create a trend of immigrant families being too afraid to get food for their children that are 100% eligible for benefits then, finding it “sickening” that they would try to take the money that belongs to the state that they already paid for.
Nessel also called out the budget standoff in the House, saying that while there are these arguments about how to pay for road funding and makeup for the loss of Medicaid, she is saving Michigan around $1.6 billion in funding these programs.
She said she had two words to the state Legislature that is “still arguing about financial issues”: “you're welcome.”
Nessel relieved by federal court ruling on birthright citizenship: Nessel also released a statement on the United States District Courtfor the District of Massachusetts's decisions to maintain a nationwide injunction on birthright citizenship.
The court ruled on the action on the lawsuit from Nessel and 19 other attorneys general to defend birthright citizenship, saying there was “no workable, narrower alternative to the injunction issued originally would provide complete relief to the plaintiffs in this case.”
“I am relieved that the Court recognized the need to uphold birthright citizenship across the country for all Americans, a fundamental protection that has been clearly enshrined in our Constitution for more than 150 years,” Nessel said in a statement. “Every person born on U.S. soil is entitled to equal protection under the law, and I remain committed to defending the constitutional rights of newly born Americans.”
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