Locals raise concerns about Trump administration’s plans to share private SNAP recipient data

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif.—“ I'm not on food stamps. But the people who are on it because they need it,” said Shirley Wolfe, who lives in Oxnard.
 
Wolfe worries plans to collect data from snap beneficiaries will make the program less effective.
 
“It’s going to scare a lot of people from even using food stamps further, and it's going to affect the nutrition of our children. It's going to affect their cognitive abilities,” said Wolfe.
 
The Department of Agriculture plans to collect and house the personal data of both SNAP recipients and those who have applied to receive benefits within the last several years.
 
The data includes names, addresses, dates of birth, and even social security numbers.
 
The Trump Administration says the goal is to ensure the integrity of government programs including verifying eligibility based on immigration status.
 
But local immigration attorney Vanessa Frank argues the move isn't necessary.
 
“immigrants are not using food stamps. They aren't they aren't eligible for those programs. They're screened out of those programs. They're required to provide documentation that they can't provide because they don't have it,” said Immigration Lawyer Vanessa Frank.
 
SNAP, which is known as Cal-Fresh here in California, helps over 140,000 people in the Tri-county area.
 
Frank predicts that number will drop
  
“When people want to apply for food stamps, they assume that information stays with the food stamp application. It doesn't go willy nilly throughout the federal government, causing perhaps problems for them with the Veterans Administration, with the immigration administration, with their taxes, with their, you know, people don't understand necessarily how all the systems interrelate,” said Frank.
 
Some community members who declined to go on camera say they agree with Trump administration's move, saying they are concerned about fraud and waste.
 
Last year, about $112 billion dollars was spent on SNAP roughly 1.5% of the total federal budget.