MAYOR ELICKER ANNOUNCES CITY OF NEW HAVEN JOINS NATIONWIDE COALITION SUING THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO MAINTAIN SNAP BENEFITS AND PROTECT FOOD SECURITY FOR CHILDREN, SENIORS[...]

Beginning November 1^st, Trump Administration set to cut off SNAP benefits for more than 42 million people, including nearly 43,000 New Haven residents.

[NEW HAVEN, CT] - Today, Mayor Justin Elicker announced that the City of New Haven has joined a nationwide coalition of local governments, charitable and faith-based nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and workers' rights organizations in filing a lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island challenging the Trump Administration's unlawful suspension of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Democracy Forward and the Lawyers' Committee for Rhode Island are representing the plaintiffs.

The case, Rhode Island State Council of Churches v. Rollins, challenges two unlawful actions by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA): its refusal to use available funds to maintain SNAP benefits during the ongoing government shutdown, and its abrupt termination of existing waivers protecting part-time workers and job seekers from losing benefits in regions with few jobs. Together, these decisions threaten to cut off essential food support to more than 42 million people, including children, seniors, and veterans, beginning November 1. In New Haven, approximately 42,930 residents - or about 31 precent of the population - receive SNAP benefits.

Mayor Justin Elicker stated, "Ending SNAP benefits and denying low-income children, seniors and veterans' access to food to feed themselves and their families is immoral and unconscionable. Children and families will go hungry because of the Trump Administration's callous and cruel decision - and we will not stand for it. That's why we're joining this lawsuit and why we're standing up and standing alongside so many other local governments, charitable and faith-based nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and workers' rights organizations who are fighting for New Haven families and families across the country."

The lawsuit argues that the administration's actions violate federal law and the Administrative Procedure Act. SNAP has long served as the nation's first line of defense against hunger and has helped stabilize local economies during crises. Yet the Trump Administration has directed states to withhold benefits and dismantled established safeguards-without authority, justification, or notice.

The twenty plaintiffs include municipalities: City of Albuquerque, New Mexico; City of Baltimore, Maryland; City of Central Falls, Rhode Island; City of Columbus, Ohio; City of Durham, North Carolina; City of New Haven, Connecticut; City of Pawtucket, Rhode Island; City of Providence, Rhode Island; charitable and faith-based nonprofit organizations: Rhode Island State Council of Churches; Amos House; East Bay Community Action Program; Federal Hill House Association; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center; The Milagros Project; the National Council of Nonprofits (NCN); New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG); United Way of Rhode Island; business and union organizations: Main Street Alliance; Black Sheep Market in Greenville, South Carolina; and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Quotes from other plaintiffs and co-counsel are available here.

The complaint details how the administration's actions will inflict immediate and irreparable harm on families and communities across the country-forcing families to skip meals, overwhelming food pantries, and harming small businesses that rely on SNAP transactions to stay afloat. It also exposes how the Trump Administration has reversed USDA's longstanding policy under previous administrations' guidance that contingency funds should be used to sustain SNAP operations during funding lapses.

Before the Trump Administration's abrupt reversal, federal guidance made clear that SNAP contingency funds were to be made available during lapses in government funding. The lawsuit asks the court to order USDA to resume November benefits, protect the program itself, and halt its premature termination of SNAP work requirement waivers in affected states.

The filing can be read here. This represents the fourth lawsuit that the City of New Haven has filed against the Trump Administration, along with joining numerous other amicus briefs.

Press Contacts:

• Lenny Speiller (City of New Haven) | 203-725-4249 ; [email protected]
• Democracy Forward | [email protected]