WA sues to block data of food stamp recipients from Trump administration

Washington is suing the Fortune 500 company that helps administer food stamps in the state, seeking a court order Thursday to block the company from sharing private data of recipients with the federal government.

The lawsuit, filed in Thurston County Superior Court, seeks to block Fidelity Information Services from sharing personal data on over 1 million Washington residents that would be used for President Trump’s mass deportation scheme.”

The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of making a “deliberate end-run” around the state to try to acquire data – that the state refused to provide – for use in deportations.

It’s the latest conflict between a state that has passed laws to protect and support immigrants – both documented and not – and the federal government, which is seeking names, addresses and personal information of undocumented immigrants through all avenues as it implements a system of mass deportations.

Earlier this month, Washington sued the Trump administration to try to stop it from sharing personal data of Medicaid enrollees with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. State data on Medicaid enrollees was shared with the federal agency that oversees Medicaid, sparking the concerns.

The latest lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of building a massive database of government data from many sources to facilitate mass deportations.

“People who need food assistance for themselves and their families should be able to trust that their data will be protected and kept private,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a prepared statement. “If a contractor fails to uphold the terms they’ve agreed to, we will hold them accountable under the law.”

Fidelity Information Services is the world’s largest payments and processing company, with annual revenue of more than $10 billion. The state Department of Social and Health Services hired FIS in 2015 to help deliver food assistance to recipients across the state.

An FIS spokesperson, on Thursday evening, said the company had just emailed the state to say it would not share the data with the federal government.

“FIS has not provided the requested SNAP data to USDA,” the email, provided by FIS, says, “and does not intend to do so without your express instruction.”

According to the lawsuit, FIS told the state in May that it intended to turn over personal data of recipients to the federal government. The state responded that it did not consent to the disclosure.

“The data does not belong to FIS and the contract between DSHS and FIS specifically prohibits FIS from disclosing this information without ‘the express written consent of DSHS,’” Brown wrote in the lawsuit.

But, the lawsuit claims FIS, after initially saying it would not provide data, went silent and did not respond to repeated requests from the state, looking for confirmation.

DSHS administers both the federally funded SNAP program, formerly known as food stamps, and the state-funded Food Assistance Program, which provides food aid to legal immigrants who are not eligible for SNAP.

More than 11% of Washington’s population is enrolled in one of the two programs, according to the lawsuit.

Neither food program is available to undocumented immigrants, but the personal data of many undocumented immigrants is held by DSHS and FIS.

Undocumented parents, for instance, with children who are U.S. citizens, can apply for SNAP on the children’s behalf.

Because the data, Brown wrote, “is so sensitive and could expose applicants and recipients to serious harm if disclosed, it is protected by state and federal confidentiality laws.”

As recently as February, the federal government promised that SNAP data would not be used for purposes beyond providing benefits.

“You can apply for or receive SNAP without immigration consequences,” a banner at the top of the federal SNAP website said in early February.

That message has since disappeared.

On March 20, Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to ensure the government has “unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs that receive federal funding.”

In early July, the Trump administration wrote to state agencies to say it was requiring them or their payment processors to begin sharing SNAP data by the end of the month.

DSHS contacted FIS on July 11 and asked the company to confirm that it would not turn over data without the state’s consent. FIS, according to the lawsuit, did not respond.

The state contacted FIS again on July 16. And last Monday. And Tuesday. The company, according to the lawsuit, never responded.

“If FIS discloses the confidential information of Washington food benefits recipients,” the lawsuit says, “The information will be utilized in service of a mass surveillance and mass deportation project unrelated to the purposes for which it was collected and unrelated to the purposes for which Washington residents entrusted their information to DSHS.

The lawsuit asks for a court order to block any disclosure of confidential information and for financial penalties for any disclosures.