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A federal court on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order sought by a coalition of 22 Democratic attorneys general, including Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, opposing President Donald Trump’s efforts to collect data, including social security numbers, for Supplemental Nutrition Association Program recipients and applicants in the last five years.
But Nevada is ineligible for the relief because the state already turned over the personal data to the feds.
The “State of Nevada, as of August 12, 2025, had fully complied with the USDA’s request for SNAP data,” says the order issued Thursday by the Northern District of California. The motion from the attorneys general was filed on July 28.
More than 505,000 Nevadans, about 15% of the population, received SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, in 2024. The Trump administration says it intends to use the data to crack down on and investigate alleged fraud.
But the effort raises concerns that agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement could use the information against individuals it seeks to deport.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo did not respond to questions about the state’s decision to turn over the data, or whether he was aware Ford, who is challenging Lombardo for governor, intended to fight the effort. Ford’s office also did not respond.
The Division of Social Services official who oversees SNAP was out of the office Friday.
In March, Trump issued an executive order titled “Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos,” and ordered each state to provide SNAP applicant and recipient data, “including but not limited to personally identifiable information in the form of names, dates of birth, personal addresses used, and Social Security numbers.”
SNAP is a state-administered, federally-funded program that provides billions of dollars in food assistance to tens of millions of low-income families. Personal information is provided to state and federal administrators in order to receive assistance, with an understanding that the information will only be used for SNAP purposes.
The data request places states in the position of breaching their agreement with recipients and applicants by providing the personal data or risking the loss of federal funding for the critical assistance.