Elected officials in Connecticut pushed back Wednesday after Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins signaled that states that refuse to turn over personal data requested by the Department of Agriculture would not receive funds for SNAP benefits.
The warning was issued during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the latest volley in a battle between states and the federal government over a program that feeds more than 360,000 Connecticut residents.
According to the Associated Press, a USDA spokesperson later explained that the Department of Agriculture would target the administrative funds for the program, not the benefits people receive.
Officials in Connecticut called the warning “cruel” and indicated they would work to “protect the rights” of state residents should the directive, which had already been challenged in court, become official.
Gov. Ned Lamont released a statement on Wednesday saying that his office is aware of the comments by Rollins. “However, Connecticut has not received any formal notice from USDA that any funds may be impacted,” the governor said. “If a formal warning is received, we will work in collaboration with the Attorney General to protect the rights of Connecticut and its residents.”
In Connecticut, data protections were recently strengthened in a bill that prohibits state and municipal agencies, including schools, from sharing an individual’s address, hours of work, public agency appointments or “any other information that provides the date, time or place where such individual may be located.” That bill was intended to protect immigrant communities from the increased presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Scott Gaul, the state’s chief data officer, said that “the underlying intent of the legislation is to make sure people can trust in government and feel that they can interact with state agencies and the benefits that they’re entitled to.”
But Tuesday’s warning by Rollins indicates that the Trump administration is intent on securing that information.
Connecticut is one of the states that filed a legal motion against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in August over the demand that states hand over personal information. In the complaint, the states argued that while the federal government contends that such information is needed to root out fraud and waste, the information is instead being collected as part of a broader effort to amass a vast database that can be used “for a variety of purposes, including to locate and deport people.”
Immigrant rights groups have rallied for data protections. On Wednesday, Constanza Segovia, organizing director of Connecticut for All coalition and director of Hartford Deportation Defense, said in a statement that the policy was among many waging war on working class families.
“They are using immigrant communities as scapegoats but what they’re really doing is gutting the safety net for all people in our state, tripling the costs of health care for middle class families, and dismantling our public institutions to profit themselves and their billionaire friends,” she said. “Now more than ever we have to stand with working class immigrants, and with all people who work for a living and make our state thrive.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement on Wednesday that a court order currently prohibits the U.S. Department of Agriculture from forcing states to turn over this information and that, “court orders are not optional, and we will not hesitate to use every legal tool available to ensure that the Trump Administration respects and follows the law.
“The Trump Administration is free to do its job and prevent fraud and abuse without trolling through grocery lists and years of sensitive personal information for tens of millions of families. And, if they care one bit about American families during the holidays, they will drop this cruel and depraved attack on families and kids.”
Connecticut’s delegation also spoke out against Rollins’ comments.
“I am sickened by President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ continued abuse of hungry families in American,” U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd, said in a statement released Wednesday.
DeLauro decried the treatment of parents, children, veterans and others who depend on SNAP at a time when the cost of household items and groceries are rising precipitously. “Yet this administration is so cruel and cold-heated that all they see are pawns in their political game,” she said. “They are so out of touch that they think starving our neighbors is good for their politics.”
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., also equated the Trump administration’s treatment of SNAP recipients as that of “political pawns.
“Donald Trump and his administration see hungry kids and seniors as nothing more than political pawns in his quest for power,” he said. “Since taking office, Trump has slashed billions in funding for food aid, waging an all-out war on hungry families. Now he wants to weaponize hunger to punish his political enemies for daring to obey the law of the land and protect Americans’ private information rather than cave to his demands.”
Laura Tillman is a reporter for the Connecticut Mirror. Copyright 2025 @ CT Mirror (ctmirror.org).
