New Hampshire health officials have shared personal data on 245,991 people receiving food assistance with the federal government, in compliance with a recent executive order by President Donald Trump. That includes the names, social security numbers, and addresses of people receiving that assistance.
The March executive order that prompted the data collection has been challenged in court by 21 states and Washington, D.C., but the U.S. Department of Agriculture has continued to press states to turn over information on people participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. In early July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave states a July 30 deadline “to ensure USDA has a complete and accurate database, we are requiring collection of SNAP data.”
A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to NHPR on Thursday that the state complied with the federal government’s request.
“New Hampshire is complying with the Federal order. Accordingly, DHHS released data for 245,991 SNAP recipients including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth,” the agency’s deputy communications director, Kathy Remillard, wrote in an email.
While Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, and Rhode Island have joined the lawsuit challenging the order, Vermont has also complied with the request. According to Vermont Public, state officials there have shared “the names, dates of birth, social security numbers, and addresses of all members of any household that has received SNAP benefits over the past five years,” and they are planning to share “data related to specific food purchases made by people with electronic benefits cards.”
Vermont is not planning to share information about the immigration status of those receiving SNAP benefits. It is unclear at this time whether New Hampshire has shared or plans to share that information.
