Some SNAP applicants or recipients may be impacted by a recent significant announcement from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
USDA works to prevent illegal aliens from receiving federal benefits in the United States. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins and Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Service John Walk provided direction to all State agencies as of April 24, 2025.
In fact, they instructed them to enhance their identity verification and immigration procedures. In this manner, SNAP and other Federal assistance will only be available to qualified recipients.
Therefore, this improvement must be made when assessing eligibility for the former Food Stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
When someone applies for SNAP, why is this action taken?
For your knowledge, President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14218 is being fulfilled in a number of ways, and this instruction is only one of them.
Other Federal benefits have also been impacted, in addition to the USDA and SNAP benefit calculation procedures.
As a result, the current eligibility verification system will also need to be improved by other Federal authorities. Naturally, this ought to be carried out to the greatest degree feasible.
By doing this, these agencies will make sure that no taxpayer-funded benefits, such as SNAP, are given to any ineligible aliens. Just a friendly reminder that President Donald Trump has stated unequivocally that American taxpayers will no longer support illegal aliens.
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Spending on misappropriated SNAP benefits
According to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis, incorrect SNAP payments cost an astounding $10.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2023, in case you were unaware.
For this reason, on February 25, 2025, Secretary Rollins instructed USDA-FNS to examine how SNAP benefits are administered and make all the required adjustments to comply with Executive Order 14128.
In actuality, the enormous sum of money was only spent in FY 2023. Therefore, if other fiscal years were included, the number would be far greater. Of the total funds spent on SNAP in FY 2023, the $10.5 billion equal to over 12%.
According to USDA, this is the consequence of states failing to adequately verify an applicant’s citizenship and identification. Consequently, it has played a role in SNAP funds being improperly disbursed.
According to the recently released guidance, States will need to get more trustworthy documentation to verify the identity of SNAP applicants. It will also be required to take extra precautions against fraud involving Social Security numbers.
Before applying for Food Stamps, make sure you fulfill all the citizenship, income, and resource requirements if you are experiencing food poverty and have a limited budget.
Additionally, unless you are excused, you will need to fulfill both general and specific labor requirements.
