USDA Suspends All Payments To Minnesota’s Food Programs Over Suspected Fraud

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suspended payments for all federal food programs in Minnesota and Minneapolis Friday over alleged fraud and abuse of federal funds statewide.

“Enough is enough!” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins posted on X, announcing the suspension. “The Trump administration has uncovered massive fraud in Minnesota and Minneapolis—billions siphoned off by fraudsters. And those in charge have zero plan to fix it.”

The agency plans to suspend all payments of federal financial awards to the state and city—totalling about $130 million—until state and local officials provide documentation detailing expenditures and transactions for the past year, Rollins said.

More than 440,000 people—about one in 13 residents—receive monthly assistance from the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

SNAP uses around three-fourths of the federal funding for food-related programs and about 7 percent of all federal funding for the state, the agency reported.

In all, Minnesota received an estimated $2.05 billion in federal funds for 52 food-related programs in 2025, according to the state. The top five programs were SNAP; Women, Infants, and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC); school lunches; school breakfasts; and the child and adult care food program.

According to Rollins, Gov. Tim Walz’s administration did not provide the USDA information about SNAP participants that would prevent continuing fraud. The state also sued the USDA in December 2025 to block the agency’s directive to recertify the state’s SNAP recipients.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued the Trump administration after the USDA demanded it recertify 100,000 households that receive SNAP benefits with in-person interviews by Jan. 15 to verify if they were eligible for the program.

Ellison argued in the lawsuit that the USDA’s demand violated several aspects of federal law.

As part of Friday’s notice, Rollins notified state and city officials they would have to provide the USDA with payment justifications for all federal dollar expenditures from Jan. 20, 2025, to the present.

All transactions on funding awards to the state and city would require the same payment justifications, according to Rollins.

Federal investigators from multiple branches of the Trump administration have focused on Minnesota amid allegations of fraud in the state’s federal child care, day care, Small Business Administration, housing, food, and other social services programs.

The USDA’s funding pause is the latest measure taken by the administration in the past two weeks as officials widen the scope of investigations.

“While the full extent of fraud in Minnesota is not yet known, it is clear that, under your leadership—or lack thereof—fraudsters can take advantage of federal funds and the American taxpayer with impunity,” Rollins said in her notice. “This necessitates federal action to protect taxpayer dollars until adequate safeguards can be established.”

Walz’s office, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s office, and the Minneapolis Department of Children, Youth, and Families did not immediately return requests for comment about the announcement.