States sue over Trump policy of sharing benefits data with immigration authorities

Summary

• Coalition of Democratic-led states files lawsuit in federal court
• Policy allows sharing of TANF recipient data with DHS
• California attorney general criticizes policy as mass surveillance
• New York attorney general calls policy harmful to antipoverty efforts

A coalition of Democratic-led U.S. states sued the Trump administration on Monday to block a new policy allowing federal immigration authorities to receive information about low-income families with children enrolled in a cash-assistance program.

The lawsuit marked the latest in a series of legal battles over efforts by the administration to give immigration officials access to sensitive personal data on millions of people held by other government agencies.

“The Trump administration is exploiting a program designed to ensure children do not go hungry and to help needy families get back on their feet in order to fuel its mass surveillance effort,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said in a statement.

The lawsuit takes aim at a move announced in June by the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to allow it to share with other agencies records on families receiving benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

The federally funded, state-administered program provides over $16 billion annually to states to provide assistance to low-income families with children, including cash payments.

The states, in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, said that the law enacting TANF specifically put states, and not the federal government, in charge of verifying applicants’ eligibility for benefits.

Yet the states said the Administration for Children and Families is now claiming it has broad authority to oversee their TANF programs and share benefit recipients’ data with other agencies including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and check their immigration status, potentially deterring those legally qualified to receive benefits from applying.

The data-sharing policy is set to take effect August 11.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but it has said that the policy is necessary to assess whether states are verifying TANF recipients’ citizenship or immigration status before providing them benefits.

The states argue that the policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution by ignoring current data-sharing restrictions and by placing new, arbitrary conditions on federal funding.

“Instead of helping families struggling with the rising cost of living, this administration is trying to turn antipoverty programs against the people they’re supposed to serve,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by David Bario and Deepa Babington)