Washington’s attorney general on Thursday sued to stop its food stamp payment processor from sharing program participants’ data with the federal government, which could use the information for immigration enforcement.
But the company, Fidelity Information Services, indicated late Thursday that it had no plans to hand over the data in question without being told to do so by state officials.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture in May requested that states and contractors provide personal data of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, recipients and applicants going back five years. A letter to states explained the rationale was to “ensure program integrity, including by verifying the eligibility of benefit recipients.”
This followed President Donald Trump’s executive orders seeking to get data from state programs that receive federal funding and to stop that money from going to immigrants without legal status.
Fidelity Information Services has served as the third-party processor in Washington for the federal SNAP program. Over 20 states use Fidelity, according to court documents.
“People who need food assistance for themselves and their families should be able to trust that their data will be protected and kept private,” Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement. “If a contractor fails to uphold the terms they’ve agreed to, we will hold them accountable under the law.”
After the lawsuit was announced, Fidelity provided the Standard with the text of an email it said it sent to the state on Thursday afternoon, in which the company said that it “has not provided the requested SNAP data” to USDA “and does not intend to do so without your express instruction.”
Fidelity Information Services told its state clients in May that it planned to cooperate with the Trump administration. But the state’s Department of Social and Health Services, which runs SNAP here, told Fidelity not to share the Washington data. Other states similarly did not comply.
The company had agreed to Washington’s wishes. But, according to the lawsuit filed in Thurston County Superior Court, the company ignored requests from the Department of Social and Health Services this month to confirm the company wouldn’t turn over data.
Washington’s contract with Fidelity includes “strict safeguards” to protect enrollee information, the complaint says.
The Department of Social and Health Services’ contract with Fidelity Information Services runs through Oct. 12, 2029, Norah West, a spokesperson for the department, said in an email. The agency is not currently taking action to replace the company, West said.
Due to the pending litigation, the department declined to comment further.
The Trump administration backed off its initial request for the SNAP data in the face of a lawsuit from advocacy groups arguing the federal government was exceeding its authority and violating privacy protections.
But since then, the Department of Agriculture has taken a new approach. In late June, the department filed a notice in the Federal Register about creating a new database of information from states and third-party payment processors.
In the notice, the federal agency wrote that it plans to use the database to “ensure the integrity of Government programs, including by verifying SNAP recipient eligibility against federally maintained databases, identifying and eliminating duplicate enrollments, and performing additional eligibility and program integrity checks.”
Records shared would include names, social security numbers, dates of birth and addresses.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told state agencies across the country they needed to provide her agency with their data by July 30.
In public comment on the Federal Register notice, the state Department of Social and Health Services said it “is concerned that we may be unable to ensure that data can be securely submitted to the new system within the timeframe outlined.”
“Until functional details of the system including frequency of reporting, data format requirements, transmission methodology, lookback period, protocols to ensure data is not used for purposes not authorized by statute, and other relevant business requirements are communicated by USDA, we cannot estimate the timeframe in which we would be able to provide the data required in the notice,” the agency continued.
Last week, Brown and more than a dozen other attorneys general urged the feds to withdraw the database proposal.
The federal government funds SNAP, which helps low-income residents pay for food via monthly benefits loaded onto Electronic Benefits Transfer, or EBT, cards. States run the program, with the assistance of third-party processors, like Fidelity.
The state also funds its own Food Assistance Program to provide benefits to people excluded from SNAP due to their immigration status. Fidelity is also the contractor for this program.
In April, the most recent month for which data is available, over 906,000 Washingtonians received a total of $167 million in SNAP benefits. That’s more than 10% of the state’s residents. Nationwide, the program serves upward of 42 million people.
The attorney general asked for a judge to immediately order Fidelity not to provide Washington’s food benefit data. The lawsuit accuses Fidelity of breach of contract, and says a data disclosure would violate the state’s anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws.
The Trump administration has made unprecedented moves in recent months to obtain state-level data that could be used to target immigrants without legal status.
Washington and other states have sued the White House over sharing personal data of Medicaid recipients with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A hearing in that case in northern California federal court is set for next month.
This story was originally published in the Washington State Standard.
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