{"id":81593,"date":"2026-06-09T19:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T02:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=81593"},"modified":"2026-06-09T19:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T02:30:12","slug":"judge-halts-usda-from-tying-snap-funds-to-anti-dei-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=81593","title":{"rendered":"Judge Halts USDA From Tying SNAP Funds to Anti-DEI Policies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Sunita Sohrabji<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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20 states, led by California and Massachusetts, are suing the USDA to remove provisions that tie SNAP food aid funding to the support of the Trump Administration\u2019s anti-DEI policies, including \u201cgender ideology,\u201d and immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A woman at a farmer\u2019s market. (USDA photo\/Wikimedia Commons license)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A federal court judge in Massachusetts June 5 issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump Administration from restricting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program \u2014 SNAP \u2014 aid to states that do not cooperate with the Trump Administration\u2019s anti-DEI policies.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Court Judge Myong Joun issued the injunction and said he would follow up with a more detailed decision later, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n

Twenty states, along with the District of Columbia filed a\u00a0lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0March 23 against the US Department of Agriculture and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins. In the lawsuit, states claimed that the USDA was unlawfully attaching new political and ideological conditions to the SNAP program, in line with the Trump Administration\u2019s anti-DEI agenda.<\/p>\n

The USDA is also threatening to withhold funds \u2014 for states who do not cooperate \u2014 from school lunch programs; Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP); and the Volunteer Fire Capacity Program, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u2018Unconstitutional roadblocks\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The lawsuit states that the USDA has threatened to withhold billions of dollars in funding unless states complied with broad federal policy requirements related to \u201cgender ideology\u201d policies and participation in gender-specific sports programs; immigration enforcement; and other DEI initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cUSDA has now thrown unconstitutional and unlawful roadblocks between the programs created by Congress and the States that rely on them, threatening critical nutrition support, vital agricultural research, and the safety of our national food chain and communities,\u201d read the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

An\u00a0estimated 38 million<\/a>\u00a0people, including families, children, the disabled and the elderly people currently use SNAP to buy food. Congress last year passed the \u2018One Big Beautiful Bill\u2019 \u2014 slashing $187 billion from the SNAP budget through 2034.<\/p>\n

\u2018Harsher work requirements\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The bill also imposed new work requirements of 80 documented hours per month for people under the age of 64. More than 3.5 million people have already lost SNAP aid over the past 11 months, and 1 million more are expected to lose support as more states rolled out their work requirements June 1.<\/p>\n

Black, Latino, and Native American households have a greater risk for food insecurity than the population at large, according to data from the\u00a0Congressional District Health Dashboard.<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the Administration\u2019s rhetoric, undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for SNAP food aid, or any other federal benefits.<\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta cheered Judge Joun\u2019s temporary injunction. \u201cToday the court granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump Administration\u2019s latest attempt to weaponize essential funding for families and children,\u201d\u00a0he said, in a June 5th press\u00a0statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Trump Administration tries to use essential programs and billions in funding as leverage to advance their hateful, discriminatory agenda, California continues to fight to uphold the law and ensure that our communities can continue to access the funding they need to thrive,\u201d said Bonta.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts Attorney General\u202fAndrea Joy Campbell, who co-led the lawsuit with Bonta, said in a press\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0when the suit was filed: These federal grant programs\u00a0are a lifeline for\u00a0families across Massachusetts. I know that firsthand,\u00a0as my own family relied on these programs when I was growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey ensure that children have access to meals at school, families can cover\u00a0basic necessities, seniors can stretch limited incomes,\u00a0and rural communities have critical support.\u00a0These are vital investments in the health, stability,\u00a0and wellbeing of our communities.\u00a0Our lawsuit asks the court to block the USDA from imposing illegal conditions that would threaten funding for these programs,\u201d said Campbell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BySunita Sohrabji Jun 9, 2026 20...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81593"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81594,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81593\/revisions\/81594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}