Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on Sunday said that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, is “a broken and corrupt program,” after benefits lapsed over the weekend due to the government shutdown.
In an interview with Fox News, Rollins said that while the Trump administration is moving to get the program restarted, 21 states refused to hand over data to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on whether illegal immigrants were receiving these benefits. Thousands of cases of illegal benefit use were also found, dozens were arrested for SNAP fraud, and thousands of dead people were still receiving benefits, she said.
“And guess what? In just the states that cooperated, we’ve already uncovered massive fraud,” she wrote in a post on X on Sunday.
After the second Trump administration took over, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched an investigation into SNAP fraud and abuse, said Rollins. She said her department asked all 50 states to send in data to the government for a review but 21 states did not.
Rollins suggested that if certain SNAP benefits are cut off, illegal immigrants will self-deport and added that it would change the outcome of the Census, causing House districts to be redrawn.
The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold payments to the food program starting Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to make the payments. It was unclear when the debit cards that beneficiaries use would be reloaded after the ruling.
Hellbound and Down 