Minnesota Vs. USDA: SNAP Deadline Is Friday

The future of SNAP benefits for an estimated 400,000 Minnesotans is now in the hands of a judge.

If you’ve lost track in all the chaos recently, here’s a quick rundown of how we got here:

December 16th, 2025: U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Collins demanded in a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz that the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families participate in a new pilot program. All SNAP recipients in four Minnesota counties (Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington, and Wright) must re-certify their eligibility in the next 30 days. Failure to comply may result in all Minnesota residents losing their eligibility for SNAP.

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December 23rd, 2025: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit asking for an injunction against the new program.

• In a news release, Ellison claims that requiring 100,000, or 45% of the SNAP beneficiaries in Minnesota, to re-certify their eligibility in 30 days is unrealistic. In addition, the lawsuit points out that the state’s error rate in 2024 was 8.98%, lower than the national average of 10.93% and lower than 33 other states. See the news release here.
• The suit claims the action is “unlawfully targeted” and claims President Trump’s “personal animosity toward Minnesota politicians, disagreements with policy choices made by the Minnesota Legislature, and bias against Minnesota Residents of Somali descent”.
• As part of the filing, Regina Wagner, Director of Economic Supports for Hennepin County, says the county had over 54,000 cases active in November, covering more than 86,000 beneficiaries. She explained the county processes between 4500 and 5500 cases a month, and the new plan is unrealistic with the staff she currently has. See her statement here.

The state has quite a recent history of suing the Federal Government. In October, Minnesota joined a coalition of states that stopped the USDA from demanding sensitive information on SNAP recipients. The state also sued over what it claimed was an overreach of the USDA when it implemented new SNAP restrictions on certain non-citizens.

January 13th, 2026: In a Truth Social post, President Trump told Minnesota residents, “Fear not, the day of reckoning and retribution is coming".

January 15th, 2025: The deadline for the state to comply with the USDA rules, also the day the lawsuit is asking for a decision on an injunction.

So, all eyes are on January 15th to see what happens, but that’s an explanation of how we got to this point.