Ellison vows lawsuit over Minnesota‑only SNAP cut
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says he will sue the Trump administration over what he describes as an unlawful, Minnesota‑specific cut to SNAP funding that would reduce or jeopardize benefits for low‑income residents here while other states continue to receive full payments. Ellison argues the administration is targeting Minnesota punitively, not based on neutral eligibility rules, and says his office is preparing a federal complaint to block the reduction before it hits families’ February and March benefits. The threatened cut comes on top of shutdown‑related delays and earlier USDA fights over work rules and data‑sharing, and food‑shelf operators in the Twin Cities are already warning they cannot absorb another wave of displaced demand. The lawsuit, once filed, would join a growing list of legal clashes between Minnesota and federal agencies over SNAP and child‑nutrition funding and could determine whether roughly 450,000 Minnesota recipients — many in Minneapolis and St. Paul — see their grocery money slashed in the middle of winter.
📌 Key Facts
- Minnesota AG Keith Ellison says he will file a federal lawsuit to stop a Minnesota‑specific SNAP funding cut ordered by the Trump administration.
- Ellison contends the move singles out Minnesota for reduced food‑assistance dollars while similarly situated states are not facing equivalent cuts.
- The prospective reduction would hit tens of thousands of SNAP households in the Twin Cities, where food shelves are already strained by shutdown‑driven delays and prior benefit disruptions.
📊 Relevant Data
The Feeding Our Future fraud scheme in Minnesota involved the theft of approximately $250 million in federal funds intended for child nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, with defendants falsely claiming to provide millions of meals to children.
Approximately 89% of those charged in the Feeding Our Future fraud case in Minnesota are Somali Americans, while Somali Americans make up about 1.7% of Minnesota's population (over 100,000 out of 5.8 million residents).
Fact Check Team: Exploring the billions of alleged fraud in Minnesota — KOMO News
Somali overrepresentation in Minnesota fraud cases is linked to economic pressures, including poverty and the need to send remittances to family in Somalia, where the annual per capita GDP is about $600.
A Somali-American former investigator: why you're hearing about fraud in my community — Minnesota Reformer
In fiscal year 2024, about 453,900 people in Minnesota received SNAP benefits, representing 7.8% of the state's population.
How many people receive SNAP benefits in Minnesota every month? — USAFacts
Minnesota's Somali community faces challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and language barriers stemming from resettlement policies that drew tens of thousands of Somali refugees to the state since the 1990s.
How Fraud Swamped Minnesota’s Social Services System on Tim Walz’s Watch — The New York Times
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