On Friday, Jan. 9, Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced on social media that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) would freeze a $129 million payment of funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Minnesota, according to MPR News.
This announcement comes as federal prosecutors are currently investigating a widespread fraud case in Minnesota, in which “A preliminary assessment suggests that more than half of the $18 billion in taxpayer funds spent on the 14 programs and intended to help low-income, vulnerable people since 2018 was most likely stolen, the federal prosecutors said,” according to the New York Times. Rollins and others within the Trump administration have used this alleged fraud as a justification for freezing – and threatening to freeze – federal funding to Minnesota.
Rollins’s post was formatted as a letter directly to Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. She stated that “payment justifications” would be required within the next 30 days for programs to be restarted, but has not responded to questions as to what those payment justifications would entail or whether or not she has already received such explanations, according to the New York Times.
According to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), over 450,000 Minnesotans receive SNAP benefits, including 152,000 children. The department describes SNAP benefits as “not a luxury, but a lifeline that helps people meet their basic needs.” Rates of food insecurity also rose in 2025, with 20% of households classified as food insecure and 30% not confident they will have sufficient food in the next year, according to FOX 9-Minneapolis St. Paul.
“We’ve reached a new low of leadership and of humanity when the Trump administration wages war on Minnesota by stealing our neighbors off the streets and cutting off food to our communities,” said Sophie Stein ‘26, a member of Interfaith Social Action (IFSA). “I know Minnesotans are tough, but that shouldn’t be necessary just to keep families together and to keep food on the table.”
The State of Minnesota is currently attempting to fight this funding freeze in court, asking U.S. District Court Judge Laura Provizino to issue a temporary injunction to prevent Rollins from stopping SNAP funding. Their case rests on Rollins’ failure to issue a judicial ruling before announcing her funding suspension, according to MinnPost.
The conflict between Rollins and Minnesota state officials over SNAP escalated in Dec, when Rollins and the USDA asked Minnesota to recertify all households receiving SNAP benefits in Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington and Wright counties. These counties contain over 100,000 households and over 190,000 recipients, according to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Rollins stated that recertification efforts would need to be rigorous and include in-person interviews with SNAP recipients, threatening to cut benefits if the affected counties did not meet her demands within a month.
Ellison’s office wrote that “Even attempting to complete this mammoth process in the timeframe provided would cause harm to county residents who need assistance with other programs or services — and pull resources from fraud-investigation programs that are better suited to protect the integrity of SNAP,” and sued Rollins over the demands.
Rollins’ demands for recertification were made over one month ago, on Dec. 16 and thus her actions correspond with her threat to cut SNAP benefits if the state failed to comply within 30 days.
With SNAP benefits currently frozen, DCYF has stated that it has received “no more clarification or detail” regarding the status or future of food stamps besides the information contained in Rollins’ letter.
The future of SNAP benefits is uncertain, but Center of Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) Director Sinda Nichols ’05 is hopeful. “Our communities are facing adversity on many fronts and it’s clear to me that we turn up for one another and that pertains to food access as much as anything else,” she said. “This is not good news, but we have such a strong civil society in Minnesota that we will find ways to take care of one another.”
