The lawsuit alleged that the information will be used for a ‘mass surveillance and mass deportation project.’
Washington state is suing financial services company Fidelity Information Services (FIS) to prevent it from sharing food aid data with the federal government, according to a July 24 lawsuit filed with the State of Washington Thurston County Superior Court.
The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) administers the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and state-funded Food Assistance Program (FAP).
FAP offers food benefits to noncitizens who are not eligible for SNAP benefits due to their immigration status. Over 1.2 million people in the state received benefits from these food assistance programs in fiscal year 2024, according to the lawsuit.
Applicants to the program must provide sensitive information such as names, addresses, social security numbers, and employment status, the lawsuit stated, along with information about everyone who lives with them.
Households of mixed immigration status are common among SNAP and FAP recipients, the lawsuit added.
“It is common, for example, for a parent of citizen children to have an immigration status making the parent ineligible for SNAP, even though the children are eligible. In this situation, the parent is permitted to apply for SNAP on their children’s behalf and, since the children are minors, to be the account holder,” the lawsuit stated.
DSHS has partnered with Fidelity, tasking the company to process SNAP and FAP payments.
To carry out the task, DSHS provides the company with information about SNAP participants. The contract clarifies that this data cannot be disclosed without the agency’s consent, according to the lawsuit.
The issue pertaining to the lawsuit traces back to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on March 20, entitled Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos. The order says that agencies must ensure the federal government has “unfettered access to comprehensive data from all State programs that receive Federal funding.”
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) published guidance on May 6, stating that its Food and Nutrition Service agency was working with several payment processors to consolidate SNAP data.
